Connecticut health officials want people to restrict their visitation to nursing homes following a surge in COVID-19 cases. More than five thousand new cases were reported across the state over the weekend.
Diedre Gifford, acting commissioner of the state's Department of Public Health, urged families not to take their loved ones in long-term care facilities home for the holidays. She said the restrictions on visitation is necessary to keep everyone in the nursing homes safe.
“That way not only the residents of the nursing homes will stay safe," Gifford said. "But the staff and the other residents would benefit from not potentially having new cohort infections introduced to nursing home facilities as a result of holiday visitation.”
She said the state has also reactivated the quarantining of long-term care residents with COVID-19 to four designated nursing home facilities in Wallingford, East Hartford, Torrington, and Meriden.
Governor Ned Lamont had originally banned nursing homes visits in March. Restrictions had been lifted in September to allow family members to see their loved ones again.
