Change in Public Health Management of COVID-19 Outbreak Investigation at Residential Care Facilities

 

To: Facility Administrators:   From: CDPHE COVID-19 IP Program- Disease Control and Public Health Response Division   The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment COVID-19 Infection Prevention program is beginning to lead COVID-19 outbreak investigations at all residential care facilities required to follow PHO 20-20. This change will standardize rapid response and ease the workload at local public health agencies (LPHAs). LPHAs have done a tremendous job leading COVID-19 outbreak response activities in residential care facilities in their jurisdictions and we are grateful for their partnership in this work.   In November, the CDPHE IP Program began leading the outbreak response in facilities located in Douglas, Jefferson, and Montrose Counties. We will soon work to transition the remaining counties. The transition will occur over the next several months with the goal of CDPHE leading all of the COVID-19 outbreak response activities in residential care facilities by the end of April 2022. CDPHE has had a team dedicated to providing health care infection prevention consultation and technical assistance to residential care facilities since the start of the pandemic. The team has written the guidance around outbreak response that is used statewide, and meets regularly with facility operators and trade organizations to share information and best practices. This team recently scaled up its infection prevention, epidemiology, and data analyst staffing to accommodate leading outbreak response efforts in residential care facilities. Please continue to participate in our bi-weekly LTC webinars to learn more about this transition. Your facility will receive communication from CDPHE when the transition is scheduled to occur in your region. Thank you for your continued partnership and as always please feel free to reach out to our team. If you have any questions related to this transition, please contact the CDPHE Infection Prevention Team at: cdphe_covid_infection_prevention@state.co.us or contact CDPHE at (303) 692 - 2700.