The Pennsylvania Department of Health on Tuesday will begin releasing the names of nursing homes along with the number of facility COVID-19 cases and deaths, information that some have said is critical to families who are making care decisions for loved ones.
State Department of Health Secretary Rachel Levine also said Monday that regulations are being rolled out this week to require all nursing home residents and staff to be tested for the highly contagious respiratory disease, followed by periodic staff testing, depending on the number of COVID-19 cases at the facility. The announcements were made during Dr. Levine’s daily briefing of COVID-19 cases, which increased by 822 statewide since Sunday to a total of 63,056.
The department of health has changed its COVID-19 tracking methods, which can result in cases being listed both in the patient’s county of residence and the county where they died from the disease, Dr. Levine said. For that reason, the state’s latest figures may differ from county coroner records.
Long-term care facilities have been hotspots for COVID-19 outbreaks, but facility operators have not been required to publicly disclose infections among staff or residents. In Allegheny County, for example, 78% of COVID-19 deaths — or 112 of 143 deaths — were in long-term care facilities, such as nursing homes. But the number at each has not been released by the state.
The health department’s disclosure of the names of nursing homes with infections tracks new reporting requirements by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the agency that oversees Medicare. Sunday was the last day without penalty for nursing homes nationwide to report COVID-19 cases to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“We’ve never seen a disease outbreak like COVID-19 in 102 years,” Dr. Levine said, referring to the influenza pandemic of 1918. “Clearly the data from Pennsylvania and elsewhere show that seniors are at the most severe risks of COVID-19.”
In a separate briefing with Gov. Tom Wolf, Pennsylvania National Guard Col. Frank Montgomery said the Guard had assisted 13 nursing homes in nine counties with COVID-19-related problems, including helping staff 10 of the facilities. He declined to name the facilities.
Asked by a reporter about the penalties a fitness center in Eastern Pennsylvania faced for opening during the state imposed shutdown of nonessential businesses, Mr. Wolf replied, “the real penalty is people get sick.”
Kris B. Mamula: kmamula@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1699.
First Published: May 18, 2020, 9:14 p.m.
