Doubts raised about Pa. stats on nursing home virus toll
While the state began releasing individual COVID-19 infection and death rates for long-term care facilities like nursing homes earlier this week, some facilities were reporting that the data is not entirely accurate.
The figures being reported as of Thursday had not been updated since they were first released May 19. In some instances, the number is only off by one or two cases, such as at Sterling Health Care and Rehabilitation Center in Media, but fluctuated more significantly at other facilities.
A spokesperson for Sterling said there were actually only 125 residents infected by COVID-19, not the 126 reported in a table of all facilities statewide. He added that Sterling had begun universal testing about a month ago, testing 132 residents, and that most of those who tested positive have recovered. Sterling also listed 29 staff members infected and
24 deaths.
The Inne at Riddle Village, meanwhile, was listed in state figures as having
42 resident cases, 16 staff infections and 20 deaths. But Riddle Village Executive Vice President Kim Roguszewski said Thursday that the facility actually had 34 positive cases, 25 employees and 16 deaths for its entire health care community. She added that there are no known cases at Riddle’s independent living facility.
At least one facility, Maris Grove, was listed twice in state data with varying numbers. One line for “Maris Grove” showed zero resident infections and deaths, as well as an asterisk for the number of employees infected, indicating less than five cases.
But Dan Dunne, director of communications for Maris Grove operator Erickson
Living, noted there was another line for “Continuing Care at Maris Grove,” with 39 resident cases, less than five employee infections and 11 deaths.
Dunne said Wednesday that there were only
16 cases still active among
1,700 residents. Deaths had also risen to 13, he said, noting all of those had complex underlying health issues. He added there are currently 16 active cases of COVID-19 among the facility’s 800 employees, but no deaths among that cohort.
Broomall Rehabilitation and Nursing Center was listed in Tuesday’s totals as having 139 cases
and 40 deaths, but Annaliese Impink, “chief experience officer” for SavaSeniorCare Consulting LLC, previously reported there were actually 171 residents at Broomall who had tested positive for COVID-19 and
46 who had died. Providence Rehab and Healthcare Center in Yeadon was listed as having 53 resident infections,
19 staff infections and 18 deaths.
Administrator Jonathan Papada reported Providence is currently treating
37 COVID-19 positive residents in-house and has 37 employees diagnosed.
“It is with heavy hearts that we confirm 16 COVID-19 related deaths involving residents as well,” said Papada. “Our thoughts are with the families of those who have passed, and we deeply feel the loss within our community ... Our medical and nursing staff, quality assurance team, and department heads are working around the clock to serve the people in our care. Their steadfast professionalism and dedication remain unwavering at this unprecedented time.”
The total figures for congregate care facilities in each county have meanwhile become impossible to fully parse. Where the state used to simply report countywide totals for those facilities, it now lists each individual facility’s numbers but replaces any number below five with an asterisk. As such, it
Administrator Jonathan Papada reported Providence is currently treating 37 COVID-19 positive residents in-house and has 37 employees diagnosed.
can only be said that at least 1,630 of the county’s cases and 393 deaths are attributable to those facilities under the figures released Tuesday.
The state reported Thursday that there are now 65,392 COVID-19 cases statewide and
4,869 total deaths attributed to COVID-19. Of those, 14,113 are attributed to resident cases in long-term care facilities and 2,306 cases among employees there as of Thursday, for a total of 16,419 cases at
570 distinct facilities in
44 counties. Out of the county’s total deaths,
3,234 have occurred in residents from nursing or personal-care facilities.
That is an increase of about 1,000 resident cases since Tuesday and nearly 100 new deaths, with no new information provided on where those occurred.
Department of Health spokesman Nate Wardle said the state anticipated being able to use facility-submitted data in its daily updates, but some facilities reported incomplete information and others did not report as ordered, so the state is looking to provide the information through another data method.
“As soon as we have complete data reported to us, we will use the facility-reported data for this count,” he said.
The discrepancies may appear small, but are important for Delaware County, which is expected to move from “red” to “yellow” on June 5 under a color-coded reopening system put in place by Gov. Tom Wolf.
Delaware County Council urged the governor to break out longterm care facility data in calculating new cases, which would allow the county to more quickly move into the “yellow” phase. Council Chairman Brian Zidek said in a video update Wednesday that county government has very little authority to unilaterally move the county forward.
Zidek said council is in daily contact with neighboring counties and with Wolf’s office, sometimes multiple times per day, and said council has stressed repeatedly to the governor that Southeastern Pennsylvania does not look like Northeast Pennsylvania and that measuring both by the same metric was not helpful. He indicated there might be some movement coming from Harrisburg on that front this week, though he was unsure of exactly what that might entail.
“There does seem to be some light at the end of the tunnel here,” Zidek said. “The numbers of positive tests that we get are coming down and have been coming down in recent days. Over the last three days, we had
56 positive cases, 71 positive cases and 69 positive cases. That is down significantly from where we were when we had
150 positive cases per day seemingly stretching for weeks and weeks and weeks.”
While encouraging, Zidek urged residents to continue social distancing, mask wearing and hand washing measures in an effort to keep themselves and others safe, especially as the Memorial Day weekend typically full of barbequing and beach-going approaches.