Health secretary defends pandemic response in nursing homes
4 years, 6 months ago

Health secretary defends pandemic response in nursing homes

Associated Press  

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Pennsylvania’s health secretary on Friday defended her agency’s handling of the COVID-19 outbreak inside the nursing homes and personal care facilities that account for almost 70% of the state’s nearly 6,600 fatalities. Levine’s agency has said it was following a March directive from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Center for Medicare Services that nursing homes “should admit any individuals that they would normally admit to their facility, including individuals from hospitals where a case of COVID-19 was/is present.” The practice appears to have been routine across states, and no nursing home has stepped forward to say that it was forced to take a COVID-19 patient against its wishes. “We don’t know, specifically,” Levine said, offering as theories that larger homes with more space have been better able to devote the room it takes to isolate infected patients. “We have had to push many times to be able to engage in them and to take ownership of the issues.” The state attorney general’s office announced last month it had opened a criminal investigation into several nursing homes, related to neglect of patients and residents.

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Rising Covid infections prompt nursing homes to ask visitors to use face masks
2 years, 6 months ago

Rising Covid infections prompt nursing homes to ask visitors to use face masks

NL Times  

As the number of coronavirus infections rises again, more and more nursing homes are asking their healthcare workers to wear face masks. Staff shortages are already prompting some nursing homes to let employees work with a coronavirus infection if they are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms, Actiz said to the Volkskrant. Almost 400 nursing homes across the Netherlands reported coronavirus …

DOJ won’t investigate how Pennsylvania handled nursing homes
3 years, 5 months ago

DOJ won’t investigate how Pennsylvania handled nursing homes

Associated Press  

HARRISBURG, Pa. — The Justice Department told Gov. Tom Wolf’s office on Thursday that it has decided not to open an investigation into whether Pennsylvania violated federal law by ordering nursing homes to accept residents who had been treated for COVID-19 in a hospital. The letter comes 11 months after the department told the governors of Pennsylvania, Michigan, New Jersey …

Nurses’ union president criticizes new CDC mask guidance
3 years, 7 months ago

Nurses’ union president criticizes new CDC mask guidance

CNN  

CNN — The president of the country’s largest nurses’ union has spoken out against updated federal guidance which says that – with a few exceptions – people who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 don’t need to wear face masks in indoor or outdoor settings. Speaking Monday on CNN’s “New Day,” National Nurses United President Jean Ross said the guidance from …

COVID-related nursing home deaths in Pennsylvania fuel blame
3 years, 10 months ago

COVID-related nursing home deaths in Pennsylvania fuel blame

Associated Press  

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Republican lawmakers in Pennsylvania on Thursday used a hearing to ask Gov. Tom Wolf’s top health official whether it was a mistake to order COVID-19 patients to be readmitted to nursing homes, although it is far from clear that the policy led to an outbreak or death. Rep. Natalie Mihalek, R-Allegheny, repeated that claim — that the …

AG slams NY’s legal shield for nursing homes, hospitals
3 years, 11 months ago

AG slams NY’s legal shield for nursing homes, hospitals

Associated Press  

ALBANY, N.Y. — New York’s attorney general has joined calls for the state to loosen a partial immunity from lawsuits and criminal prosecutions it had granted to nursing homes at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic last spring. Yet despite those “disturbing and potentially unlawful findings,” James said, “It remains unclear to what extent facilities or individuals can be held …

'There's No Quick Fix For COVID-19,' Cautions Pennsylvania Secretary Of Health
4 years, 1 month ago

'There's No Quick Fix For COVID-19,' Cautions Pennsylvania Secretary Of Health

NPR  

'There's No Quick Fix For COVID-19,' Cautions Pennsylvania Secretary Of Health Enlarge this image toggle caption Matt Slocum/AP Matt Slocum/AP For all the hope being placed in a coronavirus vaccine, Pennsylvania's secretary of health delivered a sobering note of caution Thursday on how long it will take to bring the pandemic under control. A vaccine is "the light at the …

Report: Much needs doing to shield nursing homes from virus
4 years, 3 months ago

Report: Much needs doing to shield nursing homes from virus

Associated Press  

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is claiming “resounding vindication” from an independent commission’s report on the coronavirus crisis in nursing homes, but some panel members say that’s a misinterpretation of their conclusion that much remains to be done to safeguard vulnerable residents. Vice President Mike Pence met with some of the commission members Thursday and called their report “a significant …

Feds urge ‘extreme caution’ for reopening nursing homes
4 years, 7 months ago

Feds urge ‘extreme caution’ for reopening nursing homes

Associated Press  

NEW YORK — Federal authorities are urging governors to use “extreme caution” in deciding when to resume visits at nursing homes, saying it shouldn’t come before all residents and staff have tested negative for the coronavirus for at least 28 days. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ criteria for relaxing restrictions at nursing homes come more than two months …

NY’s Cuomo criticized over highest nursing home death toll
4 years, 7 months ago

NY’s Cuomo criticized over highest nursing home death toll

Associated Press  

NEW YORK — New York Gov. They shouldn’t have sent these people into nursing homes.” Of the nation’s more than 26,000 coronavirus deaths in nursing homes and long-term care facilities, a fifth of them — about 5,300 — are in New York, according to a count by The Associated Press, and the toll has been increasing by an average of …

US nursing homes warn of looming shortage of masks and gowns
4 years, 9 months ago

US nursing homes warn of looming shortage of masks and gowns

Associated Press  

WASHINGTON — Many nursing homes risk running out of protective masks and gowns by next week because of the coronavirus, and at least one facility already had to resort to using plastic garbage bags to make gowns, an industry group warned Wednesday. “We really need to take drastic action to conserve masks and gowns going forward,” said Dr. David Gifford, …

Coronavirus analysis: It’s time to restrict visits to nursing homes
4 years, 10 months ago

Coronavirus analysis: It’s time to restrict visits to nursing homes

CNN  

Editor’s Note: Dr. Tom Frieden is the former director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and former commissioner of the New York City Health Department. Nursing homes are ground zero for Covid-19 One thing stands out as the virus spreads throughout the United States: Nursing homes and other long-term care facilities are ground zero. Influenza causes severe …

Trump Administration Announces New Scrutiny Of Nursing Homes
4 years, 10 months ago

Trump Administration Announces New Scrutiny Of Nursing Homes

NPR  

Trump Administration Announces New Scrutiny Of Nursing Homes Enlarge this image toggle caption shapecharge/Getty Images shapecharge/Getty Images The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is ordering health inspectors to focus on infection-control practices at nursing homes and hospitals, particularly those where coronavirus infections have been identified among patients or in the community, CMS administrator Seema Verma announced Wednesday. Mark Parkinson, …

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