Long-Term Care Facility Holiday Details and Scheduling Updates

 

To: Residential care facilities (Nursing Homes, Assisted Living Facilities, Group Homes, and Intermediate Care Facilities)    From: CDPHE Infection Prevention Unit & Residential Care Strike Team   Happy Holidays! During the holiday season, many people celebrate many different things, and each celebration and tradition is special. The CDPHE Infection Prevention Program and Residential Care Strike Team would like to wish all facilities a happy and safe holiday season, and thank you for all you do and continued collaboration.   With the festive spirit during the holidays, we are more likely to gather. Facilities should prepare for increased testing after resident and staff interactions. For questions on when to test residents and staff, please review the testing section of the Residential Care Mitigation Guidance.    Both the state lab and Mako labs will be closed for delivery at times during the next few weeks. Please review your testing materials, both PCR and rapid tests, and ensure your facility is able to continuously test through the holiday season.   Surveillance testing holiday courier schedule   State Lab: Courier service for State Lab testing has updated its holiday schedule and will NOT be available on:   December 24, Christmas Eve December 25, Christmas Day December 31, New Year’s Eve January 1, New Year’s Day   If you plan to submit any specimens to the lab, test on Monday and Tuesday for the next two weeks. If you test on the holiday, please hold these specimens until the following Sunday for pick-up.   Please submit a request here: COURIER REQUEST.  If you have any courier-related emergencies on the day of your requested pick-up, please contact the courier dispatch team at (720) 507-5917. Mako: Facilities who test with Mako will NOT have access to courier service on:   December 25, Christmas Day January 1, New Year’s Day   Contact COAssist@makomedical.com to make necessary changes to your recurring courier over the holidays.   Contact: residentialcarestriketeam@state.co.us cdphe_covid_infection_prevention@state.co.us Routine hours are Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m.- 5 p.m. The Infection Prevention inbox (cdphe_covid_infection_prevention@state.co.us) is monitored during this time. For urgent matters requiring immediate assistance outside of routine hours, please call (303)692-2700.   To report a case or an outbreak of COVID-19, email an outbreak report form to the Residential Care Epi Team inbox (cdphe_co_res_care_epi_team@state.co.us). This fulfills the outbreak reporting requirement.