State plans to test 215 nursing homes by June

As state officials begin testing residents at all nursing homes for the coronavirus by the end of the month, patients who test positive will be immediately isolated from their healthy peers, according to a state Department of Public Health memo obtained by Hearst Connecticut Media.

The patients in each home will be tested on the same day to limit the spread of the disease, which has raged through the state’s nursing home population since the first COVID-19 death was reported in mid-March.

Widespread testing across Connecticut’s 215 nursing homes comes as the governor’s office said Tuesday it was partnering with Yale New Haven Health and Jackson Laboratories to ramp up testing in the state.

“We want to be able to continuously test on a weekly basis for these most at-risk populations, particularly in congregant settings,” Josh Geballe, Gov. Ned Lamont’s chief operating officer, said during the governor’s daily media briefing.

“So that’s why we’re so thrilled to have the partnership with Yale New Haven, with Jackson Labs, and we’ll be announcing more in the coming days and weeks,” Geballe added.

The broad details of the effort to test nursing home patients are outlined in a DPH memo sent to nursing homes on Monday.

The memo prioritizes testing residents over nursing home staff “as they are a high-risk population residing in a congregate living setting,” the memo said.

“As testing resources allow, staff testing should be considered,” according to the memo, which also stated nursing homes could discuss with DPH testing employees on the same day as patients.

Matthew Barrett, president and CEO of the Connecticut Association of Healthcare Facilities, said the DPH signaled testing of staff at nursing homes and residents of assisted living facilities would come later.

He said he suspects testing of nursing home staff will start in June, something he said his organization is in favor of because of the risk of “huge staffing shortages” if large numbers of staff test positive for COVID-19 at the same time as the residents under their care.

Because guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention order workers who test positive to quarantine for 10 days, Barrett said he was concerned the lack of staff would pose an even greater risk to residents.

“You create a staffing crisis,” Barrett said.

The testing swabs will be dropped off at the nursing homes by DPH staff and members of the National Guard, according to

Capt. Dave Pytlik, a spokesman for the Connecticut National Guard.

After samples are taken from each of the patients, private laboratories will test them and provide results within 24 hours, the memo states.

“So far, 2,514 tests delivered to nursing homes,” Pytlik said Tuesday. He said the effort also includes distributing a protective gown with each test at the nursing homes.

According to the memo, once nursing home patients are tested and split into three groups — sick, healthy and potentially exposed — extra test kits will be distributed for staff and residents who show any new symptoms.