Long-term care facilities address COVID-19 protocol

MISSISSIPPI (WCBI)- Six long-term care facilities in the area are reporting coronavirus cases. Nursing homes are considered a long-term care facility.

Cases have been reported in Calhoun, Chickasaw, Neshoba, Oktibbeha, Prentiss, and Union Counties.

The names of the specific facilities are not released.

The Mississippi State Department of Health considers one case, from a resident or an employee, an outbreak.

Local nursing homes and long term care facilities want you to know that they are using the best practices to make sure their residents and staff stay safe.

Here’s what this means for at least one area nursing home:

• Every door to the building is locked.
• Everyone, including staff, must enter through a locked front entrance.
• All employees must answer 13 specific questions about their health and habits at the beginning of each shift.
• All employees and vendors are required to have their temperature taken before entering the building.
• Health care workers also take the temperatures of their residents once a shift.
• Family members are not allowed inside to visit.
• Residents must remain in their rooms to maintain social distance.

These precautions are recommended by the CDC and the Mississippi Health Department.