Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Nursing Homes Brace For More Problems
ABC News: Nursing Homes, After Seeing Improvements, Now Face A Fresh COVID-19 Threat
Nursing homes across the country are bracing for a dark winter as rising coronavirus infections appear to be reversing trends that had showed an improved outlook for the nation's most vulnerable, an ABC News review of state-by-state numbers reveals. "As case counts rise in communities around the country, nursing homes and providers in other congregate care settings are under siege," said Katie Smith Sloan, president and CEO of LeadingAge, the association of nonprofit providers of aging services. "Despite the improvements in testing, older adults in nursing homes -- and in all care settings -- continue to be under threat from this pandemic." (Mosk, Kim, Romero and Freger, 11/2)
The Wall Street Journal: Staffing At Some Nursing Homes Plummeted During Early Covid-19 Outbreaks
The ranks of caregivers at dozens of nursing homes plunged to dangerously low levels on some of the deadliest days of the pandemic, undercutting care for vulnerable residents at these facilities, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of new federal data. The Journal found that as the novel coronavirus tore through states like New Jersey and New York in April, as many as 127 hard-hit nursing homes on a single day had nurse-staffing levels that fell at least 25% below their levels for the comparable days in 2019, a sign that experts say points to a significant shortage. On many days in April the number of facilities with Covid-19 outbreaks that had such shortfalls was more than twice what was typical at those same facilities in the months before the pandemic, the data show. (Weaver and Mathews, 11/1)
KHN and KPCC: They Work In Several Nursing Homes To Eke Out A Living, Possibly Spreading The Virus
To make ends meet, Martha Tapia works 64 hours a week at two Orange County, California, nursing homes. She is one of thousands of certified nursing assistants who perform the intimate and physical work of bathing, dressing and feeding the nation’s fragile elderly. “We do everything for them. Everything you do for yourself, you have to do for the residents,” Tapia said. (Fortier, 11/2)
Bangor Daily News: Maine Nursing Homes Weren’t Following COVID-19 Rules This Summer. Now They’re At Risk Again.
Some Maine nursing homes still weren’t following rules meant to limit the coronavirus’ spread this summer, even after more than a dozen such facilities saw COVID-19 outbreaks in April and May — including some of the state’s largest and deadliest. Now, the continuing spike in COVID-19 cases across Maine highlights a distinct risk — that the virus could again slip into nursing homes and assisted living facilities and cause a new round of outbreaks, in which the virus spreads quickly among residents who are especially vulnerable because of old age and poor health. (Eichacker, 10/31)
Modern Healthcare: Testing Turnaround Times At Nursing Homes Lag As U.S. COVID-19 Cases Climb
As COVID-19 cases surge again across the country, nursing homes are trying to fend off spread in their facilities. Yet, despite the federal government sending rapid point-of-care diagnostic testing devices to nursing homes and requiring surveillance testing based on community spread levels, tests aren't being turned around fast enough to prevent COVID-19 in these congregate care settings, a new study finds. (Christ, 10/30)
The New York Times: States Undercount Positive Rapid Tests, Masking The Spread Of Disease
As rapid coronavirus tests are becoming more widely available, delivering results in minutes for patients in doctor's offices, nursing homes, schools and even the White House, officials warn of a significant undercount, blurring the virus's spread nationally and in communities where such tests are more commonly used. Public health officials say that antigen tests, which are faster than polymerase chain reaction (P.C.R.) tests but less able to detect low levels of the virus, are an important tool for limiting the spread of the coronavirus. But they caution that with inconsistent public reporting, the case undercount may worsen as more “point-of-care” antigen tests, as well as D.I.Y. and home test kits, come on the market. (Schoenfeld Walker, Waananen Jones and Patel, 11/1)
In related nursing news —
USA Today: Amid COVID Surge, Hospitals Seek Temporary Nurses To Bridge Care Gap
As the United States adds a new coronavirus case every second, hospitals from West Texas to Wisconsin are overwhelmed with the soaring number of critically ill Americans. In many cases, it’s not a lack of hospital beds, therapies or equipment that worry managers amid the surge, with more than 229,000 deaths from COVID-19 in the U.S. It’s the depleted and exhausted hospitals staffs needed to care for those who need life-sustaining treatment. (Alltucker, 10/31)
