A policy that allows COVID positive, but asymptomatic nursing home staffers to continue to go to work in New York was reversed on Wednesday evening by Health Commissioner Howard Zucker.

The prior policy was based on guidelines backed by the Centers for Disease Control and allowed nursing home staffers who do not show symptoms of the virus to continue to work in nursing homes with COVID-positive residents. The new policy announced by Zucker would require staffers who test positive to not return to work for two weeks.

“New York State Department of Health’s guidance mirrored the CDC’s position, however, going forward we will no longer adhere to CDC’s standard on this issue, and will instead require nursing home employees who test positive for COVID-19 but remained asymptomatic are not eligible to return to work for 14 days from first positive test date in any situation and will no longer adhere to the shorter CDC timeframe,” Zucker wrote in the letter to nursing home administrators in the state. “Symptomatic nursing home employees may not return to work until 14 days after the onset of symptoms, provided at least three days (72 hours) have passed since the resolution of fever without the use of fever-reducing medications and respiratory symptoms are improving.”

Zucker earlier on Thursday at a daily briefing on the pandemic said the state was ensuring safeguards at nursing homes that allowed COVID-positive staffers to continue working.

"We make sure they have the necessary precautions they need if they are going in there if they care for the other individuals that are there," Zucker said on Wednesday during Gov. Andrew Cuomo's daily briefing. "We are testing individuals who are in the nursing homes; both the workers as well as the patients."

Steuben County Manager Jack Wheeler had raised concerns with the policy, telling Spectrum News in an interview it created a mixed message.

"Primarily the concern is letting the public know about it, specifically the residents' family, but also staff working there and people in the community," Wheeler said. 

People who test positive for the various are supposed to isolate themselves, even if they do not show symptoms. Nursing homes remain a vulnerable target for the spread of coronavirus.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo earlier this week ordered an investigation of how nursing homes and adult care facilities have handled the virus.

In a separate letter also released on Thursday, Zucker warned administrators to follow proper regulations, including temperature checks and access to personal protective equipment.

“If your facility is unable to meet cohorting standards or any infection control standards, admission must be suspended to the facility,” Zucker wrote. “Failure to adhere to these standards will result in civil monetary penalties and/or revocation of your license.”

Previously reported Wednesday afternoon:

State health officials are allowing asymptomatic, COVID-positive nursing home staffers to work with COVID-positive nursing home residents.

The policy is raising questions among local officials, especially in rural areas of the state.

"They are the ones who are dealing with the battles everyday," said Steuben County Manager Jack Wheeler. "But it sends mixed messages at least in my view where you're saying, OK, a positive asymptomatic can work, so they are not being isolated for their send days." 

Nursing homes have become a focal point of the coronavirus pandemic in New York and across the country as deaths and infections rise in those facilities. 

Wheeler is concerned with the policy that allows nursing home staffers who not showing coronavirus symptoms to still work with coronavirus positive patients. Having them do so is up to the nursing homes themselves, but even asymptomatic people should still be isolating themselves. 

Health experts say asymptomatic people can still spread coronavirus and make other people ill. ​

"Primarily the concern is letting the public know about it, specifically the residents' family, but also staff working there and people in the community," Wheeler said. 

Wheeler is especially concerned about the spread of the virus in his small, rural county where hospital bed space is severely limited.

"Our nursing homes are highly impacted," he said. "We have the largest death count outside of Monroe and Erie counties and north of Orange County and certainly we're the most impacted rural county."

New York Health Commissioner Howard Zucker says proper safeguards are in place for these workers. 

"We make sure they have the necessary precautions they need if they are going in there if they care for the other individuals that are there," Zucker said on Wednesday during Gov. Andrew Cuomo's daily briefing. "We are testing individuals who are in the nursing homes -- both the workers as well as the patients."

For now it's not clear how many COVID positive asymptomatic nursing home workers are still going to work, Zucker says the state is working to compile those numbers.