More Indoor Visits Allowed At NJ Long-Term Care Facilities

NEW JERSEY — On Monday, Gov. Phil Murphy further loosened the indoor visitation guidelines for seeing a loved one at a long-term care facility.

Residents in long-term care facilities located in regions with low to moderate COVID activity levels are allowed to have indoor visits from family, even if the resident or the family members have not been vaccinated.

This applies to counties in New Jersey that have a 2 or lower on the COVID Activity Level Index, or CALI score, or counties designated "yellow" by the state. The state released its most recent CALI score chart March 13. Currently, this only applies to some South Jersey counties, where cases are lower than in North or Central Jersey.

These are the counties where families can visit loved ones in nursing homes even if not all parties have been vaccinated: Burlington, Atlantic, Cape May, Cumberland, Salem, Gloucester and Camden.

Even in those counties, masks must still be worn for all indoor visits.

For the rest of the state, COVID activity is still at "high" or "very high" level, said the governor. This means that, in facilities where less than 70 percent of residents have been vaccinated, family still cannot visit loved ones indoors at nursing homes.

"The overriding principle we are working under is that we recognize that families need to be able to together, especially when so many have been kept apart for so long, " said Murphy. "With both Passover and Easter coming up, we know this is a time of year when families gather."

Murphy stressed that visits outdoors are still the safest course of action. Anyone anywhere in the state can visit a loved one outdoors at a nursing home, which Murphy acknowledged was not possible all winter long.

The governor said the goal is to allow people to see their loved ones at nursing homes, after so many months of being unable to.

If you cannot get inside a nursing home to see your family under these new guidelines — what Murphy called "unwarranted roadblocks" — New Jersey residents are encouraged to call the New Jersey Office of the Long-Term Care Ombudsman at (877) 582-6995 or online at nj.gov/ooie.

As of Monday, approximately 3.5 million vaccine doses have been given out in New Jersey, and 1.2 million residents have been fully vaccinated. The state is roughly halfway to its initial goal of getting 4.7 million vaccinated this spring, said Murphy.

Be the first to know what's happening in your town and area. Sign up to get Patch emails and don't miss a minute of local and state news: https://patch.com/subscribe