AUSTIN (KXAN) — Certain family members of nursing home residents now qualify for the vaccine, according to adjustments made by Austin Public Health to its system.
Visitation remains limited in vulnerable long-term care facilities, but last fall the state approved the designation of two "essential family caregivers" for each resident — after months of stringent lockdown procedures at these facilities.
Now, Cissy Sanders gets to visit her mother several times a week in her south Austin facility, Riverside Nursing and Rehabilitation. Essential family caregivers have to wear proper PPE during these limited visits and are required to perform frequent COVID-19 testing. Still, Sanders has been afraid of bringing the virus in with her.
"You can go inside your loved one's room. You do not have to maintain six feet of social distance, as an essential family caregiver. You can sit right next to them," she explained.
Sanders gets tested nearly every week in order to make these visits happen safely, but she was "stunned" to receive a different type of notification from APH letting her know she was eligible to receive the vaccine. Sanders said she doesn't meet the age requirements or have an underlying health conditions to qualify under Phase 1B, but she was told she could register for her first shot as soon as this week.
A spokesperson for APH confirmed to KXAN, their internal system was not "recognizing the role that those individuals play in our health care system."
They went on to explain, "We made the adjustment to reflect recommendations that were made and notified those individuals that they were eligible under 1A per our understanding of the State guidelines."
"Austin Public Health is seeing the importance of closing that whole loop — that kind of safety net around the nursing home resident," Sanders said. "Anyone who is coming and going, and they are having that contact with nursing home residents, has to be vaccinated."
The Texas Department of State Health Services doesn't necessarily agree.
A spokesperson for the agency said, "I don’t see a category there where this kind of caregiver would fit."
The state's Long-Term Care Ombudsman, Patty Ducayet, confirmed to KXAN she was not aware of essential family caregivers receiving the vaccine who hadn't already qualified under the Phase 1A or 1B definitions.
But Sanders said she's grateful to APH for providing another layer of protection for her mom.
"I think it's a smart decision," she said.
The effort to protect medically-fragile nursing home residents has been ongoing since last March. Texas has had more than 36,000 COVID-19 deaths, and more than 8,000 of them have been nursing home residents, according to HHSC and state records.
The vaccination effort in these facilities began on Dec. 28 and may already be influencing the number of active cases. According to state data, Texas is seeing its longest downturn in active cases at nursing homes since cases began ballooning in mid-October. For two weeks, the number of active cases has decreased.
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