Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response: Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions to Reduce Transmission of Viral Respiratory Infections in Long-Term Care Communities, Updated 2026

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Preparedness and Response: Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions to Reduce Transmission of Viral Respiratory Infections in Long-Term Care Communities: Community Preventive Services Task Force Finding and Rationale Statement Ratified June 2024; Updated 2026
• Corporate Authors:
  Community Preventive Services Task Force (CPSTF)
• Description:
  Context: Long-term care (LTC) communities provide a broad range of health, personal care, and supportive services to residents who may have limited selfcare capabilities due to physical, cognitive, or mental disability. Individuals may receive long-term care services in a variety of settings, including residential care communities or group homes, continuing care retirement or life care communities, assisted living, nursing homes, or skilled nursing facilities. Services offered may include nursing care, 24-hour supervision, three meals a day, and assistance with activities of daily living (Harris-Kojetin 2019, NIH National Institute on Aging 2019). ; The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the vulnerability of residents in LTC communities to viral respiratory infections. LTC community residents make up less than 1% of the U.S. population but accounted for more than 23% of all COVID-19 deaths as of January 2022 (Kaiser Family Foundation 2022). ; CDC's guidance to prevent and slow the spread of viral respiratory infections includes vaccination, treatment, and nonpharmaceutical interventions (CDC 2024a). Nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) are actions, apart from getting vaccinated and taking medicine, that people and communities can take to help slow the spread of infections (CDC 2024b, Qualls 2017). A combination of individual, community, and environmental NPIs can be part of the response to respiratory infection outbreaks or pandemics (Qualls 2017). ; Individual NPIs (CDC 2024b, 2024c, Qualls 2017) are everyday preventive actions such as: 1. Proper hand hygiene: clean hands using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer in healthcare settings when hands arenot visibly dirty; or washing with soap and water if hands are visibly dirty. 2. Using personal protective equipment (PPE): covering nose and mouth with a mask, staff using gloves, gowns,goggles, face shields when appropriate. 3. Staff not coming to work when sick: instructing sick staff not to report to work. ; Community NPIs (CDC 2007, 2024b, Qualls 2017) are policies and strategies, such as: 1. Testing and screening: identifying affected individuals. 2. Physical distancing: creating ways to increase distance between people (e.g., limiting group activities, isolatinginfected individuals, cohorting or placing people together in the same room). 3. Visitor restriction: temporarily restricting visitors' access to the LTC communities. Restriction could range fromnot allowing any visitors, reducing the number of visitors, or limiting how long visitors can stay or where theycan meet the residents. 4. Resident admission or transfer restriction: limiting admission of new patients, and transport and movement ofpatients. ; Environmental NPIs (CDC 2007, 2023, 2024b, 2024d, Qualls 2017) include the following: 1. Cleaning and disinfecting: cleaning surfaces (e.g., floors, tabletops) on a regular basis, and when visibly soiled(e.g., spills); disinfecting frequently touched surfaces and objects on a regular basis and following the cleaningprocess when visibly soiled. 2. Ventilation: circulating indoor air to dilute viral particles using natural (e.g., open windows to allow air circulation) or mechanical methods (e.g., using high-efficiency particulate filters, installing ultraviolet germicidal irradiation systems). ; The Community Preventive Services Task Force (CPSTF) findings and recommendations for "Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response: Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions to Reduce Transmission of Viral Respiratory Infections in Long-Term Care Communities" are based on systematic reviews of evidence of effectiveness and economic impact. All CPSTF findings and recommendations were originally published in The Community Guide. ; The 2024 Findings and Rationale Statement was updated in July 2026. This update include the addition of these supporting document appendices: Appendix A: Analytic Framework (Effectiveness Review); Appendix B: Search Strategy (Effectiveness Review); Appendix C: Included Studies (Effectiveness Review); Appendix D: Summary Evidence Table (Effectiveness Review).
• Content Notes:
  Publication date supplied by CPSTF
• Subjects:
  • Coronavirus Infections
  • COVID-19
  • COVID-19 Testing
  • Disaster Planning
  • Disinfection
  • Gloves, Protective
  • Hand Disinfection
  • Hygiene
  • Infection Control
  • Infections
  More +
• Keywords:
  • Long-Term Care
  • Nonpharmaceutical interventions
  • Pandemic
  • Emergency
• Series:
  CPSTF Finding and Rationale Statement
• Subseries:
  Preparedness and Response
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.15620/cdc/168657
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Report
• Place as Subject:
  United States
• Rights:
  Public Domain
• CIO:
  Office of Science (OS)
• Topic:
  Diseases and Conditions
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  68 pdf pages
• Citation:
  The Community Preventive Service Task Force (CPSTF). Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response: Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions to Reduce Transmission of Viral Respiratory Infections in Long-Term Care Communities, Updated 2026. The Community Guide www.thecommunityguide.org. The Community Preventive Service Task Force, Atlanta, Georgia, 2026. https://doi.org/10.15620/cdc/168657
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/168657/cdc_168657_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.62 MB]
• Collection(s):
  The Community Guide
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:5f40c0ad40d2c5b2cffeebbd8a6dae9c9e373ff35dd636c323776b918dfdb902617b49c5e5a67574a02c36e91122b4ad836e4c6baaee1b654c63599220041413