Nursing home COVID-19 testing to be prioritized
WEST CHESTER » The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will be prioritizing COVID-19 testing for nursing home residents and workers, following a request from U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., this week.
“Many nursing homes face extreme challenges in controlling the spread of COVID-19 infection,” said Toomey. “Ensuring adequate testing capacity and rapid results are available for those who live and work in nursing homes will save lives and mitigate further spread. The CDC made the right decision to prioritize testing and rapid results for these populations. More work remains though to combat the spread of COVID-19 in nursing homes. This includes greater access to protective equipment and maintaining strict isolation measures for nursing home residents.”
The CDC previously categorized long-term care residents as “Priority 2” for COVID-19 testing procedures and asymptomatic nursing home employees were categorized as “Priority 3.” Now, both nursing home residents and employees will be categorized as “high priority.” The federal government has not been releasing a count of its own. There are an estimated one million mostly frail and elderly people who live in such facilities and the count could be much higher because state counts don’t include those who died without ever being tested for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
Toomey said his office has asked the White House coronavirus task force to consider directing commercial and public labs to prioritize samples of patients and health care staff at long-term care living facilities that have reported at least one COVID-19 positive case.”
There are 74 licensed long-term care facilities in Chester County, and 62 in Delaware County. To date, there have been 28 outbreaks at the Chester County facilities and 42 in Delaware County. One confirmed positive case is classified as an outbreak. At the Chester County longterm care facilities, 303 have tested positive, and at Delaware County longterm care facilities, 669 have tested positive.
More importantly, 73 percent of all COVID-19 deaths in Chester County come from long-term care facilities, and 69 percent in Delaware County.
At Chester County’s Pocopson Home, a longterm health care facility, positive cases total nine residents and two members of staff. One resident who tested positive passed away as a result of contracting COVID-19. The 92-year-old man had been a resident at Pocopson for a year, and he had had been hospitalized because of complications resulting from many underlying conditions.
Becky Brain, public information for Chester County, said Pocopson Home continues to follow all guidance and directives provided by the CDC, the County Health Department and both state and federal authorities. The Home undergoes frequent deep disinfectant cleaning of rooms, and all positive
COVID-19 cases are isolated to a single unit with dedicated staff to care for them. Staff caring for COVID-19 patients are not working on any other units within the Home.