Months after the coronavirus first struck nursing homes, the head of the statewide senior care association says she’s still worried about access to testing and personal protective equipment as facilities brace for a second wave.
“As the numbers creep up, we’re a little more anxious,” Massachusetts Senior Care Association President Tara Gregorio said. “We have a less than 2% infection rate in nursing facilities right now. Nursing facilities want to be able to remain COVID-free in order to protect our residents. The best way we can do that is by testing our staff and by having good personal protective equipment.”
Long-term care facilities account for more than 60% of the state’s COVID-19 deaths. As of Saturday, 376 centers had reported at least one case of the highly contagious virus, and 24,495 residents and workers had been sickened.
A report earlier this week that four veterans and seven staff members had again tested positive for the coronavirus at the hard-hit Holyoke Soldiers’ Home raised questions about nursing facilities’ preparedness for a resurgence.
Gregorio recently told the Herald that access to personal protective equipment has “definitely” improved since long-term care centers — and even states — were left scrambling for supplies in the early weeks of the pandemic.
But some facilities are still facing shortages, according to a study conducted by the American Health Care Association and the National Center for Assisted Living.
In Massachusetts, 14% of nursing homes have less than a one-week supply of gowns and N95 masks, while 13% have less than a week’s worth of surgical masks, according to data taken from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in late July.
“The continued shortage of vital PPE supplies for nursing homes across the U.S. is a major concern especially for states with recent spikes in new COVID cases,” AHCA/NCAL President and CEO Mark Parkinson said in the report.
Gregorio is calling for Massachusetts to establish a PPE exchange that would aggregate the highly-sought supplies for purchase by nursing facilities, acute-care hospitals, community health centers and other long-term care facilities. The proposal is part of House legislation sitting on Beacon Hill.
And while Gregorio said Massachusetts has “improved access to testing” at nursing facilities, at least eight long-term care centers were listed as not in compliance with the state’s baseline testing requirements for staff, according to weekly Department of Public Health data released Wednesday. Six percent of facilities were also missing a “core competency” in the latest round of 172 bi-weekly infection control audits.
“We need to make sure government continues to support efforts that allow us to get personal protective equipment and practice proper infection control,” Gregorio said, also calling to “invest in our staff, who have just been real heroes.”
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August 09, 2020 at 05:27AM
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Massachusetts Senior Care Association chief worries about testing, PPE as coronavirus creeps back - Boston Herald
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