As States Set Guidelines On Nursing Home Visits, Some Experts Worry It’s Too Soon
The pandemic has revealed many realities of nursing homes, including the vital role family still plays in a resident's care and well-being. As facilities attempt to reopen to visitors, the industry faces calls for major changes as well as legal action.
The Washington Post:
In Some States, Families Can Start Visiting Nursing Homes Again
Now, after tens of thousands of residents died as the coronavirus swept through one nursing home after another, more than a dozen states are cautiously setting rules for the return of a limited number of family visitors. They range from New Jersey, where officials believe the peak of the pandemic has passed, to New Hampshire, which has seen very few cases all spring, to Oklahoma, where even as cases are spiking, criteria have been drawn up to allow family access. But the distancing rules in effect will prevent visitors from carrying out much of their earlier hygiene care. (Englund, 6/27)
NPR:
Why Did COVID-19 Hit Some Nursing Homes Harder Than Others? Depends Who You Ask.
Residents and staff of long-term care facilities account for at least 40% of U.S. deaths from the coronavirus. In reaction, nursing homes have banned family visitors, scrambled for scarce personal safety equipment, and attracted scrutiny from state and federal lawmakers. What's received less attention is that many nursing homes have remained virtually COVID-19-free. If researchers could figure out what made the difference, that could help protect nursing home residents now and in the future. But so far, their studies have drawn wildly different conclusions. (Jaffe, 6/26)
Boston Globe:
Group Calls For Urgent Nursing Home Reforms Amid COVID-19
As the coronavirus pandemic moved through the state’s nursing homes leaving thousands dead, longstanding practices in those facilities and in state government contributed to the number of deaths, a watchdog group calling for reforms said Sunday in a report to state leaders. The Pioneer Institute called for a series of measures in its report, including tighter oversight and transparency in the care of some of the state’s most vulnerable residents, as well as regular testing and the appointment of a top official to oversee nursing homes’ responses to COVID-19. (Hilliard, 6/28)
ABC News:
For 2 Types Of Senior Living Homes Facing Coronavirus, A Striking Disparity In Federal Support
While nursing homes and assisted living facilities perform many of the same functions in service of the nation’s aging population -- and both have felt the ravages of the coronavirus -- they are receiving very different treatment from the federal government, according to elder care advocates. Only nursing homes have been thrown a lifeline, to the tune of nearly $5 billion in economic aid and federal disaster shipments of much-needed protective equipment. Assisted living facilities have received no direct federal help. (Pecorin, 6/29)
AP:
After Waves Of Virus Deaths, Care Homes Face Legal Reckoning
The muffled, gagging sounds in the background of the phone call filled Monette Hayoun with dread.Was her severely disabled 85-year-old brother, Meyer, choking on his food? Was he slowly suffocating like the Holocaust survivor who died a few months earlier in another of the care home’s bedrooms, a chunk of breakfast baguette lodged in his throat? Meyer Haiun died the next day, one of the more than 14,000 deaths that tore through care homes for France’s most vulnerable older adults when they were sealed off to visitors during the coronavirus’ peak. (Leicester, 6/26)
Modern Healthcare:
CMS To End Nursing Home Staffing Data Collection Hiatus
Nursing homes will need to start submitting staffing data again starting Aug. 14 after a temporary CMS waiver expires. CMS plans to end the emergency blanket waiver issued in response to COVID-19 that paused the submission of staffing data through the Payroll-Based Journal system, according to a news release Thursday. (Christ, 6/26)
More news is reported out of Virginia, Maryland, Michigan and California —
The Washington Post:
As Virginia Reopens, Nursing Homes Grapple With The Risk Of Covid-19 Resurgence
Families are pleading with nursing homes to allow in-person visits. Some facilities are tentatively lifting restrictions, while others are still grappling with coronavirus outbreaks. As Virginia approaches the third phase of its recovery plan on Wednesday, nursing homes and assisted-living facilities say they are fearful of a resurgence of cases. The scale of the crisis became public only recently, when Gov. Ralph Northam (D) acquiesced to demands from families, advocates and lawmakers to identify facilities with known infections after months of refusing to do so. (Chason and Tan, 6/27)
The Washington Post:
Families Of Those Lost In One Of Maryland’s Deadliest Nursing Home Outbreaks Grieve And Celebrate Their Lives
The families of those who died in one of Maryland’s deadliest nursing home coronavirus outbreaks gathered Sunday to cry, to laugh and to hug one another in a memorial service they said they hoped would ensure their loved ones are not forgotten. They sat in front of 46 crosses at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in La Plata and took turns remembering the residents of Sagepoint Senior Living, less than two miles away. Sometimes speaking through masks, they told stories of grief — of not being able to see their loved ones in their final moments and not being ready to say goodbye — but also of better times, including of the women in the dementia wing whose eyes lit up when they sang hymns, the tomatoes that one longtime resident grew and the 80-year-old who was reprimanded for driving his motorized wheelchair too fast. (Chason, 6/28)
Detroit Free Press:
Whitmer Extends Restrictions On Michigan Nursing Home Visits Into July
An executive order set to expire at midnight Saturday restricting visits to nursing homes in Michigan was replaced Friday by one that extends those restrictions through July 24, though officials may gradually allow some visits "as circumstances permit."The new order covers health care facilities, residential care homes and juvenile justice centers, the state said. (Spangler and Hall, 6/26)
San Francisco Chronicle:
San Mateo County Nursing Home Where 16 Died Has History Of Health Violations
A 140-bed nursing home in Millbrae, the site of one of the largest coronavirus outbreaks in the county, has a history of health violations that includes a failure of infection controls, an unsanitary environment and inadequate care of its residents, records show. More than 100 residents and 32 staff members at Millbrae Skilled Care have been infected by the coronavirus since March and 16 people have died, in one of the worst flareups among Bay Area nursing homes. The virus has been so widespread in the building that county officials removed some residents. (Ravani, 6/26)
In related news —
The Wall Street Journal:
Coronavirus Pandemic Led To Surge In Alzheimer’s Deaths
At least 15,000 more Americans have died in recent months from Alzheimer’s disease and dementia than otherwise would have, health officials believe, pointing to how the coronavirus pandemic has exacted a higher fatality toll than official numbers have shown. As Covid-19 devastated older Americans this spring, often by racing through nursing homes, the deadly outbreaks compounded the devastation of Alzheimer’s and other forms of degenerative brain disorders that are common among elderly residents in long-term care facilities. (Kamp and Overberg, 6/28)
