Nursing home review ordered

Lamont wants independent look at how coronavirus preparations were handled

Following criticism of the response to COVID-19 outbreaks in Connecticut’s nursing homes, Gov. Ned Lamont said Monday the state would hire an independent group to conduct a review of the preparations and actions taken at those facilities during the pandemic.

The analysis will look at the response by nursing home executives, facility managers and workers, along with state officials. Connecticut’s Department

of Public Health licenses the facilities and has been tasked with overseeing inspections before and during the pandemic. It is also one of the agencies in charge of distributing personal protective gear and testing materials to nursing homes and other long-term care facilities.

Josh Geballe, Lamont’s chief operating officer, said the state will solicit proposals from groups with expertise in health care and nursing home quality.

The administration described the review — which will cover both nursing homes and assisted living centers — as a “top-to-bottom analysis of all elements of the pandemic and how it was addressed in these facilities.” As of last Wednesday, 2,542 nursing home residents had died of

COVID-19 or were presumed to have died of the disease. The fatalities represent 64% of the state’s overall coronavirus deaths.

More than 8,500 nursing home residents have been infected with the virus — about 20% of the state’s COVID-19 cases.

As of last Tuesday, 337 people had died of the disease or were presumed to have died of it, in assisted living centers. More than 1,000 people in those facilities have tested positive for COVID-19.

Family members with loved ones in nursing homes have been critical of the facilities’ response to the pandemic, saying that workers have made rounds without protective gear, that infection prevention measures weren’t followed and that they could not get information about the spread of the disease inside the homes.

Inspectors who have visited the state’s nursing homes since the pandemic began found infection control problems in one out of every four facilities. The issues ranged from staff not using protective equipment to commingling COVID-19-positive residents with those who were healthy.