CHARLESTON, W.Va.
(AP) — West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice on Friday ordered that residents
and staffers of all nursing homes in the state immediately be tested for
the coronavirus.
The Republican governor said his executive order comes after some testing discrepancies when outbreaks have cropped up in nursing homes. The state health department and National Guard will carry out the testing, he said.
“The entire situation with our nursing homes is not as good as it needs to be,” he said, adding “it needs to be perfect.”
Justice
did not offer a specific timeline of when the tests could be completed.
But, according to figures from the nursing home trade group the West
Virginia Health Care Association, the effort would involve testing
around 28,000 people and could take several weeks with the state’s
testing capacity of around 3,000 a week. Though capacity could be
increased through the use of out-of-state labs, according to Clay Marsh,
a high-ranking West Virginia University health official tapped as the
state’s coronavirus czar.
Justice
has repeatedly urged widespread testing in nursing homes, warning of
the toll the virus could have in a state where senior citizens are a
fifth of the population.
The
state’s first reported nursing home outbreak at the Sundale facility in
Morgantown has led to at least three deaths and around 30 cases, with
Justice calling it a “horror story.”
On
Friday, Kanawha County officials said 16 residents of the Riverside
Health and Rehabilitation Center in Jefferson have tested positive with
employee tests still pending. Also in Kanawha, 10 cases have been
reported at Eastbrook Center and one at Brookdale Charleston Gardens.
Separately, The Wayne Nursing and Rehabilitation Center has reported the
death of a resident as well as positives in 39 residents and 33
staffers.
Nationally,
the federal government has come under pressure to track nursing home
deaths and infections as outbreaks claim thousands of lives. An
Associated Press tally from media reports and state health departments
indicates at least 6,461 deaths have been linked to coronavirus in
nursing homes and long-term care facilities nationwide as of Friday. The
federal government has not been releasing a count.
West Virginia health officials said 13 people have died and 754 people have the virus after 18,681 tests, though testing is still limited.
After
admitting that its virus tally lags behind the actual total as results
pour in from counties, the state health department on Friday directed
labs to provide immediate electronic reporting of tests. Bill Crouch,
the health department secretary, told reporters the agency has been
getting results via fax machine.
For
most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such
as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks, and the
overwhelming majority of people recover. But severe cases can need
respirators to survive, and with infections spreading exponentially,
hospitals across the country are either bracing for a coming wave of
patients, or already struggling to keep up.
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Source: Mountain Top