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State health officials’ failure to adequately prepare for the pandemic likely contributed to some senior care home coronavirus deaths early in the pandemic, state auditors said in a critical, wide-ranging report released Wednesday. The two state agencies responsible for responding to the pandemic wasted “valuable time” in the first few months after Oregon’s first case as they tried to figure out how to work together, the Secretary of State Oregon Audits Division found. (Zarkhin, 3/24)

In early April, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention program that delivered Covid-19 vaccines to long-term care facilities should be complete. With cases dropping faster than among the general public, the CDC calls the program a real success, but advocates are concerned about what happens when it ends. (Christensen, 3/24)

Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration has swept away four emergency orders dealing with visitors to nursing homes, just days before the Legislature is poised to pass a bill that would help shield the facilities from lawsuits associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. The administration has told the nursing-home industry to abide by recently issued federal guidelines that allow visitors to touch fully vaccinated residents. (Sexton, 3/24)

Nursing homes have to publicly disclose their vaccination rates for flu and pneumonia but there’s no similar mandate for COVID-19 shots, even though the steepest toll from the virus has been among residents of long-term care facilities. Now lawmakers of both parties are urging the Biden administration to require disclosure of coronavirus vaccination rates for residents and staff, and to make it easy for family members, advocacy groups and researchers to access such potentially critical details. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 3/25)

A Senate health committee narrowly passed a bill Tuesday that promotes the use of cameras in rooms of residents of long-term care facilities to prevent neglect or abuse. The split vote reflected the panel’s vigorous debate over the differences between cameras that are hidden, and those that would be visible and known to the facility and its staff. (Miller, 3/24)