Will the 14-day isolation period in care homes be under review as part of the next Welsh Government review of care home COVID guidance?
Public Health Wales’s Guidance to Prevent COVID-19 Among Care Home Residents and Manage Cases, Incidents & Outbreaks in Residential Care Settings in Wales, advises that, where the setting cares for those who are clinically vulnerable (such as a care home), a period of isolation on arrival in the setting is advised, for 14 days. The guidance clarifies that this isolation period is considered necessary as a negative test result does not rule out infection as an individual can already be incubating the virus at the time of the test, or become infected after they were tested.
Clinically vulnerable and extremely clinically vulnerable groups, such as people living in care homes, should isolate for 14 days if they test positive or show symptoms of novel coronavirus. The isolation period is longer than for the general population, as a precaution, because of the vulnerable nature of the residents.
Public Health Wales advises they have no intention at present to review this section of the guidance.