Nursing home deadline missed
White House request for complete testing seen as poor use of time, money
A two-week challenge for states to provide coronavirus tests to all nursing home residents and staff has been met with little or no movement by many.
A review by the Associated Press found that at least half of the states are not going to meet the White House’s deadline, and some won’t even try.
Only a handful of states have said they’ve already tested every nursing home resident.
Many states said the logistics, costs and manpower needs are too great. Some say they need another week, while others say they need much more time.
And still other states are questioning whether testing every nursing home resident and staff, regardless of any other factors, is a good use of time and money.
RICHMOND, Va. – Nearly two weeks ago, the White House urged governors to ensure that every nursing home resident and staff member be tested for the coronavirus within 14 days.
It’s not going to happen.
A review by the Associated Press found that at least half of the states are not going to meet the White House’s deadline, and some aren’t even bothering to try.
Only a handful of states, including West Virginia and Rhode Island, have said they’ve already tested every nursing home resident.
Many states said the logistics, costs and manpower needs are too great to test all residents and staff in a two-week window. Some say they need another week or so, while others say they need much more time.
California, the most populous state, said it is still working to release a plan that would ensure testing capacity for all residents and staff at skilled nursing facilities statewide.
And still other states are questioning whether testing every nursing home resident and staff, regardless of any other factors, is a good use of time and money.
“At this time it would be fairly useless to do that,” said Nebraska Chief Medical Officer Dr. Gary Anthone, adding that the state would have to repeat the tests almost daily to get more than a snapshot in time, and the state doesn’t have the capacity when there are others who need to be tested.
On May 11, Trump heralded his administration’s efforts to boost coronavirus testing and said the U.S. had developed the “most advanced robust testing system in the world, by far.” That same day, Vice President Mike Pence hosted a private conference call with the state’s governors, where White House adviser Dr. Deborah Birx requested that each state target nursing homes to help lower the virus’s death toll.
Birx acknowledged Friday that the two-week recommendation was a challenge but said it was needed because of the particular vulnerability of nursing homes.
“We should never be discouraged by those who can’t get it done,” she said.
“We should be encouraged by those who have shown us that it can be done.”
Nursing home operators have said the lack of testing kits and other resources has left them nearly powerless to stop the virus from entering their facilities because they haven’t been able to identity silent spreaders not showing symptoms.
The American Health Care Association, the main nursing home trade group, said more than half of its members said they were unable to test all residents and staff within two weeks because of a lack of access to testing. The group also estimates that testing every nursing home resident and staff member would involving testing nearly 3 million people at a cost of $440 million.