H.F. 4704 Summary

• Appropriates $2,108,000 to the Commissioner of Health for COVID-19 testing and vaccination services in long-term care facilities, including contracted teams and State Emergency Operations Center staff support.

• Appropriates $333,000 to the Commissioner of Health for COVID-19 testing of Department of Health regulatory staff entering long-term care facilities.

• Appropriates $480,000 for a nurse triage line to report COVID-19 test results and answer questions from long-term care facility residents and staff.

• Appropriates $631,000 for infection control nurses and monitoring staff to prevent COVID-19 transmission, and $888,000 to establish four five-person infection control strike teams for facilities experiencing COVID-19 outbreaks.

• Appropriates $2,000,000 to the Commissioner of Human Services to establish a temporary staffing pool deployed to long-term care and other group residential facilities experiencing COVID-19-related staffing crises, with facilities required to provide at least 80 hours of paid isolation/quarantine leave to employees as a condition of receiving assistance.