State to test all long-term care facility and assisted living residents over next month
South Dakota public health leaders on Thursday announced a plan to test all of the state's long-term care facility residents and staff and other vulnerable populations for the new coronavirus.
The four-week plan, a collaboration between the state department of health, local healthcare providers and commercial testing labs, will attempt to test all residents and staff across the state's nursing homes and assisted living centers.
The mass-testing event will begin with testing residents in about 46 nursing homes in areas of substantial COVID-19 spread. The next week of the phase will move to the more than 100 other nursing homes across the state. The remaining two weeks will focus on assisted living centers. First, in the about 70 facilities in areas of substantial community spread, and then in the remaining about 50 assisted living centers across the state. People do not have to be tested, and leaders said they cannot force people to be tested.
It is aggressive," said state health lab director Tim Southern in a weekly conference call with healthcare providers across the state. "It is ambitious, but it is very doable."
Read more: https://www.argusleader.com/story/news/2020/05/14/state-test-all-long-term-care-facility-and-assisted-living-residents-over-next-month/5190340002/
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