North Egypt News

State Sen. Terri Bryant (R-Murphysboro) recently blasted the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) for waiting until the day before Thanksgiving to issue guidance on visiting long-term care facilities.

On Nov. 12, the Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services issued updated guidance allowing visitation for all residents, at all times. According to Bryant, IDPH didn't adopt the guidance until 12 days later.

"In case you missed it, IDPH adopted federal guidance for long-term care facility visits 12 days after the federal government put out the guidance and just one day before Thanksgiving," Bryant wrote in a Dec. 1 Twitter post. 

"IDPH had plenty of time to get these guidelines out so people could visit their loved ones during the holiday, yet they waited too long for many," Bryant added in a separate tweet. "The residents of these facilities should have been able to enjoy the privilege of visiting with their families like the rest of us."

In her tweets, Bryant shared a link to a local news story about the new regulations. WGEM News reported that although IDPH had opened up visiting earlier this year, the delta variant had caused them to impose limits on visitation in long-term care facilities. 

“Under the nursing home reform act, residents are entitled to visitors of their choosing any time they want, 24 hours a day. And that’s that is supposed to be being restored,” Carrie Leljedal, a top advocate with Illinois Caregivers for Compromise said, according to WGEM News.

Bryant said she expects that IDPH will not apologize to families impacted by the late guidance because “IDPH would have to own up to this mistake.”

"I wish that there were some more lawmakers who had the courage to speak out about this," Bryant said, according to WGEM News. "Please, help us with this. We are in the holiday season. Let these people have freedom right now."

According to the updated IDPH guidance, not all long-term care employees are vaccinated, making it possible that they could become infected by visitors.