Home ▸ Blog ▸ September 23: COVID-19 Update

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently released regulatory guidelines requiring routine testing of healthcare team members, contractors, vendors, consultants and volunteers based on the positivity rate in the area surrounding the community for the prior week. Henrico County’s current positivity percentage indicated that Lakewood must test once a week. Please note, the frequency of testing at Lakewood is subject to change weekly following any variations in the county’s posted rates.

As a result, routine testing was conducted on September 15–16. Lakewood’s team learned that one team member tested positive for COVID-19. This team member is a member of the environmental services team who works in the healthcare center. This team member is asymptomatic, has been removed from the schedule and is self-quarantining at home. The team member will return to work following guidelines from the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).   

The recent CMS regulation states that identification of a new case of COVID-19 in any team member or resident will require that all residents be tested weekly until testing identifies no new cases for a period of at least 14 days. Team members will continue to be tested according to the county’s positivity rate. The frequency of testing at Lakewood is subject to change weekly following any changes in the county’s posted rates.

Because one team member tested positive, all healthcare residents were tested on September 21. Thus far, the results that have been returned are all negative.