White House recommends tests for all nursing home residents
12 May, 2020
With deaths mounting at the nation's assisted living facilities, the White House strongly recommended to governors Monday that residents and staff at such facilities be tested for the coronavirus in the next two weeks.
Why the government is not ordering testing at the the country's more than 15,000 nursing homes was unclear. Nor was it clear why it is being recommended now, more than two months following the nation's first major outbreak at a nursing home beyond Seattle that eventually killed 43 people.
Vice President Mike Pence, who leads the White House coronavirus task force, told governors on a video conference call that it’s the federal government’s strong recommendation that such testing be achieved.
“We really think that all 1 million nursing home residents should be tested within next fourteen days as well as the staff,” added Dr. Deborah Birx, the task force coordinator, according to a recording of the decision obtained by The Associated Press.
A lot more than 26,000 residents and staff have died from outbreaks of the virus at the country's assisted living facilities and long-term care facilities, according to an AP tally predicated on state health departments and media reports. That's about a third of most 76,000 deaths in the U.S. which may have been related to the virus.
Nursing home operators have said the lack of testing has left them practically powerless to avoid the virus from entering their facilities because they haven't had the opportunity to identity silent spreaders among already sick residents and staff not showing symptoms.
Charlene Harrington, a professor emeritus of nursing at the University of California, San Francisco, said nursing homes should have been prioritized right away given their vulnerable populations and questioned why the testing recommendation is merely happening now.
“We’re two months involved with it," she said. “If indeed they had done that to get started with, we would’ve found cases early and we wouldn’t have so many deaths.”
Representatives for the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services didn't immediately respond when asked why the agency wasn’t making testing a requirement. In mid-March, it asked homes to cease group gatherings and visitations, and to screen staff with such measures as temperature checks.
A senior administration official defended the federal government response, saying it told states early in the outbreak to concentrate on the elderly, helped them secure supplies and that going for a tougher stand with them is still an option.
“If the states aren’t able to come back with plans quickly to accomplish it, then there’s an excellent chance we will order them to achieve that, but we believe that right now there are a good amount of tests out there,” the officials said on condition of anonymity because he lacked authorization to speak to the media.
Another senior administration official added, “If there should be a heavier hand getting into the near future, I don’t think there will be, but we’re always ready to do that.”
Pence led the White House’s weekly call with governors from an isolated room after his press secretary tested positive Friday. Three of the country's top healthcare officials, including infection disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci, are isolating themselves on fears they have been subjected to the virus, too.
Source: japantoday.com
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