additional guidance to nursing homes to help them improve their infection control and prevention practices to prevent the transmission of COVID-19, including revised guidance for visitation. The Striking Racial Divide in How Covid-19 Has Hit Nursing Homes. The FutureCare – Lochearn nursing home in Northwest Baltimore. The country recorded 17,584 cases in nursing homes during the week ending Jan. 17, The New York Times reported. June 18, 2020 Maryland Department of Health Guidance for Relaxation of Restrictions Implemented During the COVID-19 Pandemic Nursing Homes BACKGROUND: During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, various restrictions have been put into place by Maryland nursing homes to limit the introduction and But the Times analysis found that the federal government’s five-star rating system, often used to judge the quality of a nursing home, was not a predictor. Of these, 25 received an overall rating of 5 out of 5. In Maryland, 80 percent of nursing homes with high black and Latino populations have been hit by the coronavirus, double the rate for homes with hardly any such residents. After previously saying there was “no public health purpose” to sharing data on coronavirus cases at nursing homes and denying requests to release it, the Maryland Department of Health will this week provide that information under orders from Gov. MARYLAND — Data regarding the new coronavirus at nursing homes and assisted living facilities will be released starting this week, according to Gov. The Striking Racial Divide in How Covid-19 Has Hit Nursing Homes. To better understand the disparities in Maryland, California and Illinois, The Times teamed up with The Baltimore Sun, KPCC/LAist and The Southern Illinoisan to interview dozens of current and former nursing home workers, residents and their relatives. But at least 97 people, including 27 workers, have contracted the virus and eight residents have died. In short, the variations are huge. Eric Russell, who moved his mother to a different nursing home in the Chicago area after she tested positive for the virus, said the prevalence of cases in homes with more black residents was alarming, and needed to be more widely understood and examined by the authorities. Those facilities also tend to house more residents and to be located in urban areas, which are risk factors in the pandemic. xœÍ\ëo7ÿnÀÿâ ©pVKrŸAQ ±Ó6ŵM£ùÐْ%#±VñJNõßgH.¹»¤õ¢r×¢µ-íîp†óø̓;úîqu7¾]‘W?_’ÑïR2«ÏÏ(™ŸÅäE±”d”Á¼ÄÓ󳻯ÏÏÈk¸¡¹ý›oFß­VãÛùtBþ]WË¿Gכåtôv1 „dÞMçg¯®ÏÏFßSB)¹¾ƒ¥Åâ_Jx\D¼ yA£”\?ÀrŚr“ÎÏþáßäú§ó³×â!¿Ÿm§öÛÎ^U«UõàgîûªZÏ\–G©5/¢S{mS!qXg‘FŒ°4’ee§äV¬tôæa½Š?_¾¹"ñž²aD|áM.ö?gádc¯‘î¹FîYc&L¦Ì_£‡J¥â’ÛSIwÊL³o._‹ß×±6]ÊXÄ=d_£‘óp ÇH—Z~À/o®B‘Ì„§ôÑ&–&Ԟî‹uõ8|‘6¡äʄ\³óȸPÂS+ãiD=4þ-ìj,äFãÁlŠ?ÈB–ãՐ¦ƒ9 It is also set to begin reporting COVID-19 cases and deaths in the state’s assisted-living facilities. Long before the pandemic, there was disparity in homes. In East Los Angeles, at the Buena Ventura Post Acute Care Center, a five-star facility where many residents are Latino, Alma Lara-Garcia, a certified nursing assistant, said workers were not given masks until April, well into the outbreak in the United States. Expands COVID-19 testing to any individual who believes it necessary. Donna Johnson, a cook at Forest Haven who says she was given a mask for protection, said she came down with a 102-degree fever in April and tested positive for the virus. Homes with a significant number of black and Latino residents have been twice as likely to be hit by the coronavirus as those where the population is overwhelmingly white. In the new 2020-21 Best Nursing Home ratings U.S. News evaluated over 15,000 nursing homes to help you find the best care for your loved one. COVID-19 has devastated America's nursing homes, killing more than 100,000 residents and workers over the course of the pandemic. In examining racial disparity in coronavirus infections at nursing homes, The New York Times gathered data on infection reports from state and local health agencies and combined it with databases of information about facilities, including the federal government’s Nursing Home Compare data and Brown University’s Long Term Care Focus data. Tiana Thompson, Buena Ventura’s administrator, said that the facility had worked to secure protective gear for workers and that Ms. Lara-Garcia had not been asked to work while sick. For an alphabetical listing, view the Maryland Department of Health Licensee Directory for Comprehensive Care Facilities and Extended Care Facilities and Nursing Homes. ANNAPOLIS — Gov. “I had roommates who pushed the call button because they needed help to go to the bathroom,” said Armand Harris, who said he was discharged in February from Gateway Care and Rehabilitation Center in Hayward, Calif., after receiving care for cancer and kidney disease. Some report daily; others, weekly. There are 226 nursing homes in Maryland. At least 83 residents and employees have contracted the virus, and at least a dozen of them have died. They have since received proper supplies, including face shields, masks and gowns. Residents must get tested weekly. Certain states monitor all types of long-term care facilities, but others track only nursing homes. The Maryland Department of Health also lists 17 of Talbot County’s COVID deaths as having happened at nursing homes. For example, Maryland launched a COVID-19 Crisis Support Program, which provided mental health support to employees of Maryland's nursing homes. 4 0 obj âòO–dÈ[`ˆ ª™ây¨­‡'ED½ëépÝóÖéžÞ:õE&. “But in the day you spent awaiting test results, the number of … “Typically, what occurs in the general population is mirrored in long-term care facilities,” said Dr. David Gifford, chief medical officer for the American Health Care Association, which represents the industry. Homes that are at least 25% black and Latino. On a state level, Maryland has only been able to offer COVID-19 testing to symptomatic residents of nursing homes, said Morgan Katz, director of antimicrobial stewardship at Johns Hopkins Bayview. Skilled nursing facilities are licensed by the PA Department of Health, and are often referred to as nursing homes.There are other types of long-term care facilities licensed by the PA Department of Human Services, such as personal care homes and assisted living facilities. Larry Hogan. On … Company officials said in a statement that they had proactively sought testing for Villa at Windsor Park residents and tried to limit the spread of the virus. She said she was told to come into work anyway. Governor Hogan in his many news conferences portrays that […] The announcement that a more contagious strain of COVID-19 has now reached Maryland is fueling a race to quickly vaccinate as many people as possible. Gov. Days later, she said, she was sent home when she complained of a sore throat and uncontrollable coughing, and she eventually tested positive for the virus at a county-run testing site. In Maryland, 80 percent of nursing homes with high black and Latino populations have been hit by the coronavirus, double the rate for homes with hardly any such residents. A month earlier, during the week ending Dec. 20, more than 32,500 cases were reported. Since the beginning of the pandemic, Maryland has seen 17,191 COVID-19 cases in nursing homes, group homes and assisted living centers, and 2,323 deaths, according to state government statistics. Based on data collected as of May 16, the analysis could not determine whether there was a disparity in rates of illness or death for white residents and people of color within nursing homes because data was not available. And over the course of the next week, every hospital in Maryland will receive doses of the COVID-19 vaccine as well. These account for 10.8% of total cases in the state and 56% of deaths. At the FutureCare Lochearn nursing home, in Baltimore, 158 residents and 75 employees tested positive for the virus over a few weeks, and 20 people have died. The nation’s nursing homes, like many of its schools, churches and neighborhoods, are largely segregated. COVID-19 Information for Nursing Homes. In some facilities that had coronavirus outbreaks, concerns about how residents were being cared for came well before the virus. Nursing homes and assisted living programs are reminded that indoor visitation is not permitted if “They contracted this through no fault of their own.”. <> Yet the disparities in outbreaks among homes with more Latino and black residents have also unfolded in confusing ways that experts say are difficult to explain. The goggles did not fit under her glasses, so she did not wear them. The coronavirus has been infecting and killing people of color at disproportionately high rates in the United States, data has shown. House Majority Leader Kerry Benninghoff, right, said he expects "complete cooperation" from the Wolf administration during an investigation into its handling of nursing homes and the COVID … The Times analysis, which covers the 22 hardest-hit states for which data is available and the District of Columbia, represents a snapshot in time, and the picture could change as the crisis wears on. Certain states monitor all types of long-term care facilities, but others track only nursing homes. The situation at Gateway, which has had a diverse group of residents who are black, Latino, white and Asian, only grew worse once the pandemic hit, interviews with former residents, workers and relatives suggested. Find the Right Doctor. Anne Arundel County ... who had criticized his handling of COVID-19 outbreaks at nursing homes. ANNAPOLIS, Md. “I got out in the nick of time,” said Mr. Harris, who is of mixed racial background. And they were more likely to have been punished for serious rule violations. About 1.3 million people live in the nation’s nursing homes, according to federal data. Workers fell ill, alongside their patients. additional guidance to nursing homes to help them improve their infection control and prevention practices to prevent the transmission of COVID-19, including revised guidance for visitation. Phase 1B. Ms. Willis, a nurse at a St. Louis medical center, is still unsure whether her uncle had the virus. The death toll at Sagepoint is the highest among nursing homes in Maryland, where long-term-care facilities accounted for more than 6,000 of the state’s coronavirus infections as … (Note: out-of-pocket expenses may apply if the test is not covered by a health plan.) Asked in an email about the ponchos and hair bonnets, Mr. Colbert did not respond. 3 0 obj 20-04-05-01 I, Robert R. Neall, Secretary of Health, finding it necessary for the prevention and control of 2019 Novel Coronavirus (“SARS-CoV-2” or “2019-NCoV” or “COVID-19”), and for the She said her strongest concern was for the residents. Editor’s Note: The headline was changed to specify the type of care homes. Nontraditional nursing homes have almost no coronavirus cases. Juanita Willis helped look after her uncle Ralph Wellmaker, who had lived at the home since last summer. Nursing homes and large assisted living programs (over 50 beds) are strongly encouraged to test their staff at least once a week for COVID-19, and where appropriate, more often, using a combination of rapid point-of-care testing and PCR lab testing. A home in an urban area was less likely to get hit by the virus if it had a small black and Latino population. A few days ago, our new President and Vice President held a ceremony honoring the 500,000 Americans who have lost their lives to COVID-19. At least 3,043 people have died inside New York nursing homes due to COVID-19 complications, or about 17% of the state’s 18,015 deaths as of Wednesday. Related: Maryland nursing homes strained by huge cost of COVID-19 testing. First responders, public safety, corrections. Her father, Alexander F. Gaskins, a former interior decorator who tested positive for the virus, died on April 19. Nursing home residents are at high risk for infection, serious illness, and death from COVID-19. The coronavirus pandemic has devastated the nation’s nursing homes, sickening staff members, ravaging residents and contributing to at least 20 percent of the nation’s Covid-19 death toll. Large homes with few black and Latino residents were less likely to have outbreaks than large ones with more black and Latino residents. Hogan said vaccines will be distributed to all 227 nursing homes within two weeks. In addition, Maryland hospitals are beginning to look to nursing homes to absorb patients recovering from Covid-19, who no longer require acute care but still need to be monitored, DeMattos said. “At no time has Buena Ventura Post Acute Care Center asked any employee who reported experiencing Covid-related symptoms to report to work,” Ms. Thompson said in an email. Even predominantly black and Latino nursing homes with high ratings were more likely to be affected by the coronavirus than were predominantly white nursing homes with low ratings, the data showed. “Nobody gave a damn about the black people dying at a higher clip,” Mr. Russell said. More than 60 percent of nursing homes where at least a quarter of the residents are black or Latino have reported at least one coronavirus case, a New York Times analysis shows. Instead, she said, she was given orange plastic swimming goggles. Ms. Lara-Garcia said administrators told her that they were going to order medical-grade eye protection, but that suppliers were out. Gateway Care and Rehabilitation nursing home in Hayward, Calif. Forest Haven Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Catonsville, Md. That is double the rate of homes where black and Latino people make up less than 5 percent of the population. In the suburbs of Baltimore, workers at one nursing home said they were given rain ponchos to protect from infection. His death certificate listed cardiac arrest as a cause of death, but records indicate he was not tested for the virus, according to the local coroner’s office. In Maryland, 80 percent of nursing homes with high black and Latino populations have been hit … Image via Google Street View. The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office said it was investigating deaths at Gateway and the safety and well-being of its residents. Nationally, at least 106,000 people have been sickened by the virus in more than 4,000 skilled nursing facilities, which do not include stand-alone assisted living centers, retirement communities and other long-term care facilities. About 80 percent of those residents are identified as white by nursing home administrators. The Times obtained Medicare claims data and supplemented it with the Brown University data, which incorporates information from Medicaid and Medicare claims. Nursing Homes in Maryland. Out of state travelers to Marylander or Marylanders returning to the state should get tested for COVID. Not long after, she said, she started to feel sick. “Bria of Belleville took early and aggressive steps to protect the health and safety of its residents and staff,” the facility’s administrator, Stephanie Birch, said in a statement. Case counts and fatalities associated with individual facilities will be published on the Maryland Department of Health's coronavirus website , Hogan said. But his niece complained that he was never tested for the virus. Nursing home staff must get tested for COVID-19 twice a week. Anita Kelly, whose father fell ill at FutureCare, said she was angry that testing had not come sooner, and said she wondered whether the fact that her father and most other FutureCare residents were black had played a role. ANNAPOLIS (WJZ) — Limited visitation will resume at hospitals and nursing homes across Maryland, state officials announced Thursday. Small nursing homes, which are disproportionately occupied by white residents, tend to have fewer outbreaks than larger facilities, and urban nursing homes have more outbreaks than suburban or rural ones. Dozens of nursing home workers interviewed across the country described short-staffed, disorganized facilities that sometimes lacked adequate protective gear amid the pandemic. And officials in the nursing home industry say that the situations playing out inside homes largely reflect the circumstances unfolding outside their walls. The race and ethnicity of the people living in a nursing home was a predictor of whether it was hit with Covid-19. They said that there had been “significant mischaracterizations and misrepresentations” about their handling of the crisis, and that no one in the home currently had symptoms of Covid-19. Bria of Belleville, a rehabilitation and skilled nursing facility in Belleville, Ill. By Robert Gebeloff and Jeremy White | Sources: By Guilbert Gates and Robert Gebeloff | Sources: The Villa at Windsor Park nursing home on the South Side of Chicago. The impact has been felt in cities and suburbs, in large facilities and small, in poorly rated homes and in those with stellar marks. Maryland lifts many Covid restrictions, to cheers, criticism and confusion. Maryland Click to expand menu. Nursing Homes in Maryland There are 226 nursing homes in Maryland. “They wouldn’t stand for it,” Ms. Kelly said of how officials might react if the pandemic was disproportionately affecting white Americans. DIRECTIVE AND ORDER REGARDING NURSING HOME MATTERS Pursuant to Executive Order No. [Nursing home residents, families and workers: How is the pandemic affecting you?]. It is one of more than 300 nursing homes in the state where the virus has been detected. In at least 14 states, more than half of coronavirus deaths are tied to long-term care facilities for older adults, according to a New York Times database. “It is very upsetting,” Ms. Willis said. All sorts of nursing homes, including those with mostly white residents, have been affected. The governors of Washington and Oregon are the latest to order classrooms reopened. Almost 19,000 people have died, and that is quite likely a significant undercount. In short, the variations are huge. And in nursing homes, a single case often leads to a handful of cases, and then a full-fledged outbreak. (AP) — Maryland will focus its initial COVID-19 vaccinations on hospital-based health care workers, residents of nursing homes and first responders in the first phase expected to arrive as soon as next week, state officials said Tuesday. Bria, where many residents are black, has a one-star overall rating, the lowest available, from the federal government. In East Los Angeles, a staff member at a predominantly Latino nursing home where an outbreak emerged said she was given swimming goggles before professional gear could be obtained. endobj Ron Colbert, the facility’s administrator, said the home was restricting visitor access, screening anyone who entered for symptoms, and following federal guidelines for personal protective equipment and patient isolation. stream And those that serve predominantly black and Latino residents tend to receive fewer stars on government ratings. <>/Metadata 129 0 R/ViewerPreferences 130 0 R>> ... Maryland GoVAX COVID-19 Vaccination Support Center – Traditional Chinese Maryland GoVAX COVID-19 Vaccination Support Center – French (AF) Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 147 nursing homes in 27 states had patients with COVID-19, and the problem has only worsened since. • Coordination with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and local public health departments - We encourage all nursing homes to monitor the CDC website for Hospital Heroes Step Up to COVID-19; Doctors. Twenty-seven employees at the facility, where most residents are African-American, tested positive for the coronavirus. Maryland has published data on COVID-19 cases at nursing homes, assisted-living facilities and other group homes with 10 or more occupants. endobj Some report daily; others, weekly. In Baltimore County, at the Forest Haven Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, where many residents are black, workers said they were given rain ponchos and nylon hair bonnets in early April, after Maryland required all nursing homes to provide the staff with protective equipment. <>/Font<>/XObject<>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text/ImageB/ImageC/ImageI] >>/Annots[ 19 0 R 20 0 R 21 0 R] /MediaBox[ 0 0 612 792] /Contents 4 0 R/Group<>/Tabs/S/StructParents 0>> Those with more black and Latino residents tended to score worse than mostly white homes on quality metrics used by regulators. Today, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is posting the first set of underlying coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) nursing home data. But the Times analysis found that a racial disparity remained even after accounting for a variety of factors, including the size of a nursing home, the infection rate in the surrounding county, the population density of the neighborhood and how many residents had Medicaid or Medicare. Holly O’Shea, a spokeswoman for FutureCare, said the large number of infections reflected the widespread testing that the company sought out. 2 0 obj The analysis bypassed states that have published limited information, focusing on the District of Columbia and 22 states where at least 20 percent of facilities reported at least one coronavirus case. w:¤l /1/ðÃY}A^9ÔµøLÞ)¿YÁ&À…ã`­`¸òæñ“¼>¾ ¿i>Xãòëú^\©N~×TCÆð4y_MƋ!åjËåö#uÜüü‰KU߇^Vàq•} New measures to protect nursing homes in Maryland and Los Angeles as coronavirus death toll rises.