AVOIDING COVID-19

The mother of Pennsylvania’s secretary of health has moved out of a personal care home.

The 95-year-old mother of Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine moved out of a personal care home after cases of COVID-19 were reported there, Dr. Levine and the Department of Health confirmed.

Dr. Levine was questioned about the move at her daily news conference on Tuesday. She noted personal care homes are under the jurisdiction of the Department of Human Services, not under her oversight at the Department of Health.

“My mother requested — and my sister and I, as her children, complied — to move her to another location during the COVID-19 outbreak,” Dr. Levine said.

“My mother is 95 years old; she is very intelligent and more than competent to make her own decisions.”

Though additional questions submitted to Dr. Levine on Friday were not asked at that day’s news conference, in a phone call afterward, department spokesperson April Hutcheson said the move was a “very personal decision” made by Dr. Levine’s mother, not Dr. Levine.

“Her mother weighed her options, and that was the decision she came to,” Ms. Hutcheson said, adding: “This is one woman’s personal decision.”

She said the action does not reflect any sort of recommendation or policy on the part of the Department of

Health, and their role — with respect to nursing homes, not personal care homes — is to ensure the administrators of nursing homes follow infection control procedures, have the supplies and other support needed, and keep residents safe.

“The Department of Health would not make that kind of recommendation,” Ms. Hutcheson said. “We are dealing with the facility and facility owners.”

Ms. Hutcheson would not confirm the personal care home in question, where Dr. Levine’s mother was moved, or whether she had been tested for COVID19 before leaving the facility. Releasing any of the three details, she said, would be a violation of medical privacy laws.