Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
'Devastating Outcome': Database Shows Nursing Homes With Deadly Outbreaks Doubled In Past Week
The number of nursing homes publicly reporting cases of covid-19 has doubled in the past week, with more than 1 in 6 facilities nationwide now acknowledging infections among residents or staff, a Washington Post analysis of state and federal data found. The rise is driven in part by newly released information about previous novel coronavirus infections from states including Michigan, Maryland, Kentucky and South Carolina. Some states have not yet publicly released the names of affected nursing homes. (Jacobs, Mulcahy, King and Cenziper, 4/29)
Maryland announced Wednesday that it will test all nursing home residents and staffers for the novel coronavirus, which has spread through 194 facilities, infecting 4,822 staff members and residents and killing 516. Officials said the state may be the first in the country to mandate universal testing. Data released Wednesday evening showed that half of Maryland’s confirmed covid-19-related deaths and more than a fifth of its cases were linked to skilled-nursing facilities. (Tan and Harden, 4/29)
In March, not long after Bill Passman’s parents moved into an assisted living residence in Maryland, his 94-year-old father developed a cough. At first the family didn’t think much of it, even though fears about the coronavirus had recently sent the facility into lockdown. Bill was more concerned about helping his parents figure out how to use Zoom so the family could still talk."We did get [my parents] to click on the Zoom link, joined it — and the audio wasn’t working," he recalled. (Mason, 4/29)
As coronavirus infections increase in nursing homes throughout the state, Santa Clara County made the chilling discovery this month that dozens of staff members with no symptoms of the coronavirus had unknowingly infected the very people they cared for at three facilities experiencing big outbreaks. The revelation raises questions about what Bay Area county public health departments — which oversee testing at nursing homes — are doing to prevent outbreaks. Many do not require workers to be tested before they interact with patients. (Ravani, 4/29)
