Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Infection-Control Practices Get Low Marks In Louisiana Nursing Homes Where COVID Deaths Occurred
New Orleans Times-Picayune: Red Flags Found At Louisiana Nursing Homes Ravaged By Coronavirus; See Data Here
For nearly a decade, Katherine Robins has sounded the alarm about the lack of hand-washing among employees at the Baton Rouge nursing home where her husband lives. Through a live video feed of his room, she’s watched over the years as one health worker after another at Carrington Place walks past the hand sanitizer on the door, then the one on the sink in the corner, before caring for him, she said. So when Doug Robins, 49, was recently hospitalized with the coronavirus, she wasn’t surprised. (Roberts, Rddad, Russell and Simerman, 5/19)
San Francisco Chronicle: Coronavirus Testing Slow To Come To Nursing Homes, Despite 35% Of COVID-19 Deaths
The California Department of Public Health on May 11 gave each of the state’s 1,224 skilled nursing homes until June 1 to submit a plan for regularly testing residents and staff. But waiting until June — months into the pandemic that has already killed 1,143 residents and workers at the state’s nursing homes and assisted living facilities — is too late, those critics say. (Ho and Ravani, 5/19)
NPR: Pennsylvania Health Secretary Defends 'Universal' Nursing Home Testing Plan
Of the 4,624 people who have already died of the coronavirus in Pennsylvania, at least two-thirds of them were associated with nursing homes or other long-term care facilities. Last week Pennsylvania's health department said it's "executing a robust universal testing strategy" for the more than 80,000 residents and 10,000 staffers at 1,900-plus facilities. But in the week since the announcement, some long-term care facilities have been left confused and saying they haven't been given enough guidance. (Doubek, 5/19)
