Blame game taking place over toll in nursing homes
— A grim blame game with partisan overtones is breaking out over COVID-19 deaths among nursing home residents, a tiny slice of the population that represents a shockingly high proportion of Americans who have per- ished in the pandemic.
The Trump administration has been pointing to a segment of the industry — facil- ities with low federal ratings for infection control — and to some Democratic governors who required nursing homes to take recovering coronavi- rus patients.
Homes that followed fed- eral infection control guidelines were largely able to con- tain the virus, asserts Seema Verma, head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS, which sets standards and pays the bills. “Trying to finger-point and blame the federal govern- ment is absolutely ridiculous,” she says.
Verma says data collected by her agency suggest a connection between low rat- ings on safety inspections and COVID-19 outbreaks. But several academic researchers say their own work has found no such link.
Advocates for older people say the federal government hasn’t provided needed virus testing and sufficient protective gear to allow nurs- ing homes to operate safely. A White House directive to test all residents and staff has been met with an uneven response.
“The lack of federal coordination certainly has impeded facilities’ ability to identify infected persons and to provide care,” Eric Carlson, a long-term care expert with the advocacy group Justice in
Aging, told lawmakers. “That absence remains important as facilities are attempting to open up, which requires an extensive reliance on testing.”
Democrats are critical of the Trump administration response.
“We need action,” says Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa. “We need a plan from CMS and we need resources to stop the spread of COVID-19 in nursing homes.”
Nationwide, more than 45,500 residents and staff have died from coronavirus outbreaks at nursing homes and other long-term care facilities, according to a running count by The Associated Press. That’s about 40% of more than 115,000 total deaths. Nursing home residents are less than 1% of the U.S. population.
With more coronavirus legcongressional islation possible Democrats this year ar, e pressing for a national testing plan and additional resources for nursing homes. Republicans are mainly seconding the administration’s arguments.
During a recent briefing for lawmakers, Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the No . 2House Republican, blam ed New York Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo for the high numbers of deaths in his state. tive A since-rescinded that nursing homes state direc hacd to accept recovering coronavirus patients “ended up being a death sentence” in New York and several states with similar policies, Scalise said.
But Harvard researcher David Grabowski, who serves on a nonpartisan commission advising Congress about Medi- care, says neither state policies, nor “bad apples” among nursing homes, have drive en the outbreak.
Instead, Grabowski says it’s simpler: Because the virus can be spread by people who show no symptoms, that means if it’s already in a community, the staff can unwittingly bring it into the nursing home.