White House Recommends All Nursing Home Residents, Staff Be Tested In Next Two Weeks
When asked why testing wasn't ordered at the facilities where about a third of all deaths have occurred, President Donald Trump said “I would certainly consider that. I will mandate it if you’d like.” Nursing home news is from New Jersey, California, Wisconsin, Massachusetts and California.
The Associated Press:
White House Recommends Tests For All Nursing Home Residents
With deaths mounting at the nation’s nursing homes, the White House strongly recommended to governors Monday that all residents and staff at such facilities be tested for the coronavirus in the next two weeks. Why the government is not ordering testing at the nation’s more than 15,000 nursing homes was unclear. Nor was it clear why it is being recommended now, more than two months after the nation’s first major outbreak at a nursing home outside of Seattle that eventually killed 45 people. (Freking and Condon, 5/11)
ABC News:
Mike Pence: Test All Nursing Home Residents, Staff
Vice President Mike Pence made a nationwide call for coronavirus testing in America's 15,000 nursing homes, telling governors that he wants to see every state prioritize COVID-19 screening inside the facilities that have been hit the hardest by the new coronavirus. "I want to say what we're urging with regard to nursing home testing is ... let's just get everybody in the homes everybody on the staff, let's get them tested," Pence said Monday. (Faulders, Mosk, Freger and Pecorin, 5/12)
NPR:
New Jersey Investigates State's Nursing Homes, Hotbed Of COVID-19 Fatalities
Coronavirus fatalities in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities account for at least one-third of the deaths in 26 states.In New Jersey's nursing homes, the coronavirus has proved especially deadly: 53% of the more than 9,000 people who have died from COVID-19 in the state were long-term care patients or staff. Now, New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal has opened an investigation into possible misconduct at those facilities. (Pao and Chang, 5/11)
KQED:
California Assisted Living, Nursing Homes Want Immunity From Legal Claims
Groups representing hospitals and long term care homes have asked Gov. Gavin Newsom for broad immunity against legal claims from residents in their care who suffer any injury or death during the COVID-19 pandemic. The reason? Those groups say the pandemic has stretched staffing thin and made medical resources scarce, unprecedented circumstances that demand immunity from legal action. (Peterson, 5/10)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Wisconsin Ready To Name Long-Term Care Centers With Coronavirus Cases
Nursing homes in Wisconsin are bracing for the state to release the names of long-term care facilities with positive cases of the novel coronavirus. The public disclosure will come this week, perhaps as early as Monday. (Glauber, Radcliffe and Johnson, 5/9)
WBUR:
'Devastating': Nearly Half Of Boston's Coronavirus Deaths Have Been In Nursing Facilities
At least 252 people have died from COVID-19 in Boston's nursing homes and assisted living facilities. The fatalities account for 48% of the city’s coronavirus-related deaths, Mayor Marty Walsh said Monday — a figure he called "devastating." Nursing homes and other senior long-term care facilities are overseen by the state, but Walsh said that the city of Boston is doing what it can to help. The city has created a disease containment strike team, provided staffing and administrative assistance and delivered medical supplies. (Levine, 5/11)
New England Public Radio:
Race, Income, Nursing Homes: Factors Behind Why Hampden County Has The State's Highest Rate Of COVID-19 Deaths
Hampden County has the sixth highest rate in Massachusetts for confirmed COVID-19 cases. But it has the highest rate of deaths. That indicates people who contract the virus in Hampden County are, on average, more likely to die from it than elsewhere in the state. (Brown, 5/11)
WBUR:
The State Wanted Someone With Health Care Experience To Oversee Soldiers' Homes. It Never Happened
In 2016, the Massachusetts Legislature decided the Holyoke and Chelsea Soldiers’ Homes should be overseen by someone with at least five years of health care management experience, so lawmakers created a new position: an executive director of veterans’ homes and housing. Four years later, that position remains unfilled. And now, as the coronavirus rages on, and the state-run veterans home in Holyoke experiences one of the deadliest outbreaks in the U.S., some Mass. lawmakers want to know why. (Wasser, 5/11)
KQED:
Laguna Honda’s COVID-19 Outbreak Offers Lessons For Other Long-Term Care Homes
This week San Francisco health officials have begun testing everyone at skilled nursing facilities for COVID-19, beginning with the county-run Laguna Honda Hospital and Rehabilitation Center, where an early outbreak has amassed 21 cases of the virus among patients and staff. It could have been much worse. In early March, positive cases climbed rapidly at the facility, which serves hundreds of patients who are poor, old and vulnerable. But in the last month they’ve leveled off. To date, most cases of the coronavirus associated with the facility are among staff, and the health department reports the currently sick as being in good condition. (Peterson, 5/11)
KQED:
Mass COVID-19 Testing In Nursing Homes Still A Ways Off In Bay Area Counties
Bay Area counties don’t regulate assisted living, nursing homes, and other group housing situations — but they have developed “task forces” and “strike teams” who advise these risky places about ways to mitigate and control the spread of the coronavirus. Public health and infectious disease experts generally agree on what tactics help. They include training in hand-washing and using personal protective equipment (PPE), monitoring staffing levels and supplementing them where workers fall ill or must isolate, and testing, which may include residents and staff, whether they have symptoms or not. (Peterson, 5/11)
