Hospital / Nursing Home Visits

Sheryl or I have not needed to do so during the pandemic. However, if it were necessary for one of us to go I know Sheryl would go and represent us. If it were my family, for instance my nonexistent brother, I would go.

Hi . If you do need to visit someone in a nursing home, I would be sure to wear a medical-grade mask and maybe even consider wearing gloves. You should be fairly safe if you take enough precautions, but there are no guarantees. I think, for me, it would be partially dependent on how important I am to that person and how many others are visiting. If you are in a warm climate, another option is to ask the staff to wheel the person outside for a visit or to have someone else go in and take the person outside. I hope that helps. Wishing you the best. - Lori (Team Member)

Hi . In relation to nursing homes, they are now required to track and report all COVID information for the facility and make it publicly available. This site offers more information, including on searching for specific facilities: https://data.cms.gov/covid-19/covid-19-nursing-home-data. You should also be able to contact the facility and ask for this information. Of course, a report of no active cases would not necessarily eliminate the risk, as people can be asymptomatic and untested or cases not yet diagnosed, but the information is certainly helpful. The situation with hospitals is likely to be much more fluid, but they should still be able to update you on the known state of the facility. In addition, I want to share with you this page from the American College of Rheumatology with various documents on COVID guidance: https://www.rheumatology.org/Practice-Quality/Clinical-Support/COVID-19-Guidance. Wishing you the best. Richard (RheumatoidArthritis.net Team)