Associated Press
More than 2,700 deaths nationwide have been linked to coronavirus outbreaks in nursing homes and long-term care facilities, an alarming rise in just the past two weeks, according to the latest count by The Associated Press.
Because the federal government has not been releasing a count of its own, the AP has kept its own running tally based on media reports and state health departments. The latest count of at least 2,755 deaths is up from about 450 deaths just 10 days ago.
But the true toll among the 1 million mostly frail and elderly people who live in such facilities is likely much higher, experts say, because most state counts don’t include those who died without ever being tested for COVID-19.
Outbreaks in just the past few weeks have included one at a nursing home in suburban Richmond that has killed 40 and infected more than 100, another at nursing home in central Indiana that has killed 24 and infected 16, and one at a veteran’s home in Holyoke, Mass., that has killed 37, infected 76 and prompted a federal investigation. This comes weeks after an outbreak at a nursing home in the Seattle suburb of Kirkland that has so far claimed 43 lives.
And those are just the outbreaks we know about. Most states provide only total numbers of nursing home deaths and don’t give details of specific outbreaks. Most notable among them is New York, which alone accounts for 1,439 nursing home deaths but has so far declined to detail specific outbreaks, citing privacy concerns.
In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis is refusing to disclose the names of impacted facilities, and the Miami Herald is seeking to challenge that policy in court.
Experts say the deaths may keep climbing because of chronic staffing shortages in nursing homes that have been made worse by the coronavirus crisis, a shortage of protective supplies and a continued lack of available testing.
And the deaths have skyrocketed despite steps taken by the federal government in mid-March to bar visitors, cease all group activities, and require that every worker be screened for fever or respiratory symptoms at every shift.
But an AP report earlier this month found that infections were continuing to find their way into nursing homes because such screenings didn’t catch people who were infected but asymptomatic. Several large outbreaks were blamed on such spreaders, including infected health workers who worked at several different nursing home facilities.
This past week, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that regulates nursing homes issued recommendations urging nursing homes to use separate staffing teams for residents, and to designate separate facilities within nursing homes to keep COVID-19 positive residents away from those who have tested negative.
Dr. Deborah Birx, who leads the White House coronavirus response, suggested this past week that as more COVID-19 tests become available, nursing homes should be a top priority.
“We need to really ensure that nursing homes have sentinel surveillance. And what do I mean by that? That we’re actively testing in nursing homes, both the residents and the workers, at all times,” Birx said.
____
Reprinted with permission from The Associated Press.
2 comments
Marlene
April 12, 2020 at 3:34 pm
The least transparent governor in our history, following in the footsteps of his Dear Leader.
Lisa Martell
April 12, 2020 at 10:38 pm
Agree Marlene.He has followed his mentor and I see so many similarities. I have every expectation that a Florida Governor should be a good Crisis Mgr. While I did not vote for him, I still expect a certain skill set. He’s got all of those fancy diplomas on his wall. Surely they taught him something?
Throughout this entire crisis I have felt completely misinformed and the citizens essentially ignored. I am tired of seeing him on national news almost everynight.
Having to hunt and peck in the hope of finding accurate information regarding Florida.
Listening to Gov’s Newsome, Cuomo, DeWine and others. What are they doing to protect their citizens? Watching their news conferences. Finding other states and seeing what they are up to. Can’t say for sure but they seem to be very transparent. While this is incredibly helpful, I’m not aware of DeSantis doing much more than half measures in many areas, nothing in other areas and certainly not in a transparent way. I have disagreed with almost everything he is doing regarding this crisis.
When I watch him or read about a news conference, he looks like a deer in the headlights.
He’s been snarky, petulant, defensive, secretive and almost completely opaque. It looks like this is all so terribly inconvenient and not what he signed up for.
While he is not the only Governor who is not required to release any information with regard to nursing homes and long-term care facilities, Florida is the one place where it should be mandatory.
The curves and projections are trending downward, not just in Florida. This is good news but with always room for error.
I believe that we are in this crisis for quite awhile but if we do end up with “only” 4,000 souls being lost it will not be because of the actions of DeSantis but in spite of them.
My mother is in a long term facility. We have two other family members across the state. So, we are calling multiple times a day to hear their voices and have increased the # of window visits to a minimum of once per day. If we can see them and talk to them, I guess things are ok. But this “strategy” is too much for our elders and creates more work for staff. Knowing the obscene track record that Florida has with regard to our elderly and the “forever homes” where they reside, it’s amazing that I have not attempted to pitch a tent at her window.
Comments are closed.