MDH Publishes Names of Congregate Settings with Positive COVID-19

Posted on April 8, 2020 by Jodi Boyne

As we shared with you last week, the Minnesota Department of Health began publishing the names of congregate care settings that have at least one resident, staff or contractor who is positive COVID-19. MDH will continue to update this list on an ongoing basis. Here are a few important items to know:   

• Outbreak: MDH defines outbreak as 1 confirmed COVID-19 case in a setting.
• Exposure: A setting will be listed if it has a positive case of COVID-19 that is a resident or staff. A setting will also be listed if it has been exposed to a confirmed COVID-19 from an essential health care personnel (contractor) who served a resident in your setting.
• List Removal: At this time MDH has not provided any criteria for being removed from the list.
• Advance Notice: We worked with MDH to secure 48 hours advance notice to providers before their setting is placed on this list in order to provide with time to communicate with residents, families and staff.

We distributed a news release after the list was posted and have been in communication with reporters. We continue to work with MDH on several issues and unintended consequences related to this list, including the criteria for how a setting is removed removed from the list and whether COVID-19 specialty sites and units could be a separate category. 

The message we have been sharing was recently echoed by MDH Commissioner Jan Malcolm, who urged people to be thoughtful and careful about how the information is used and interpreted:

“Being on the list does not mean that the facility is deficient in any way or has done something wrong any more than we would say that there was something done wrong by a family with a household member that has a case. These are our most vulnerable residents...Without the care and support of the staff who are working with them, we are going to have an additional crisis on our hands. It’s incumbent on all of us to understand that these facilities are working very hard to protect their residents and their staff, and we continue to work very closely with them to do everything possible to prevent the introduction and spread of the virus. However, with community transmission as it is, we should expect that many facilities will have cases, just as many work settings and families and households around the state have had and will have cases. We know that the risk of COVID-19 is general and widespread across all of our communities and why it is so very important that we practice social distancing and take those other protective measures in all areas of society. We need to be doing everything we can to protect the residents and employees at these facilities in particular.”

You can hear Commissioner Malcolm’s entire remarks via the live broadcast of the media briefing that aired on WCCO.

It is imperative that you be transparency with your resident, families and staff on positive cases in your setting, and use those conversations as opportunities to share what you are doing to prevent the spread of the virus in our setting and protect your residents and staff. Please use our Confirmed Case – Communication Resources for support.

If you need assistance or would like LeadingAge MN to speak to a reporter in your community, contact Jodi Boyne at 651-659-1430 or jboyne@leadingagemn.org.