New State Guidance Will Allow Visitation At Long-Term Care Facilities To Resume Safely

Long-term care facilities and nursing homes across Oklahoma can soon allow visitors back inside.

Governor Kevin Stitt announced new guidance Tuesday for visitors at those facilities.

Related Story: Gov. Stitt Makes Announcement Regarding Nursing Home, Long-Term Care Facility Visitation

The recommendations encourage facilities to require all visitors to take a 15-minute online caregiver training course. Visitors and residents will also have to provide proof of a vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test in the past 48 hours. They will also have to wear masks at all times.

The governor said their decision to not allow visitors this past year saved a lot of lives, but some feel the guidance is too late.

Alicia Campbell lost her mom to COVID-19 complications after she contracted the virus in a nursing home. She said she wrote the governor and other politicians for the past year asking them to allow in-person visitation.

"It was not the thing to do, because anyone can put on PPE and get into a facility and see their family members and the fact they locked us out it did not keep the virus out. It still got in. A staff member brought it into the facility and infected everybody," Campbell said.