NJ orders coronavirus testing at all long-term care facilities for residents, staff
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Of New Jersey’s 140,743 coronavirus cases, at least 26,000 have occurred in long-term care centers, including nursing homes and assisted living facilities. More than half of the state’s 9,500 deaths have occurred at such centers, including 74 fatalities recorded at a veterans’ home in Paramus.
On Tuesday, the state’s health commissioner ordered testing in all long-term care facilities for both staff and residents to be completed by May 26.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}LA COUNTY'S CORONAVIRUS STAY-AT-HOME ORDER MAY DRAG ON THROUGH JULY OR AUGUST, OFFICIAL WARNS
Those who test negative are to be retested within three to seven days, in case of exposure to new cases.
“We want to collaborate with long-term care facilities to protect their residents and staff,” Health Commissioner Judith Perischilli said in a news release. “We all have a role to play in this.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Perischilli said testing would strengthen infection control measures and prevention strategies, and said that if a staffer does test positive, they would be allowed to return to work in accordance with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Department of Health recommendations.
CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK KILLS MORE THAN 70 RESIDENTS AT VETERANS HOME IN NEW JERSEY
The state has 90,000 residents in its long-term care facilities and has been criticized for policies previously in place that allowed for infected health care workers to return to work after testing positive as long as they have maintained isolation for “at least seven days after illness onset and have been at least 72 hours fever-free (without fever-reducing medications) and with other symptoms substantially improving.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}At the New Jersey Veterans Home in Paramus, which provides care for military veterans and their family members, 113 of the 211 residents still living at the center have tested positive for the virus. Nearly 100 staffers have tested positive for COVID-19, and the state didn’t require nursing home staff members to wear masks until March 30. The National Guard has since been deployed to help remediate the outbreak at the veterans’ home, but relatives of residents said it’s too little too late.
“They really kind of held the truth from everyone,” Stephen Mastropietro, whose 91-year-old father died from coronavirus complications last month, told The New York Times.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}On Tuesday, N.J. Gov. Phil Murphy said the state was on pace to test at least 20,000 residents a day for the virus by the end of the month, and 25,000 by the end of June. He also announced plans for contact tracing as he discussed plans to possibly reopen.
“These are truly the underpinnings of the road back,” he said. “Without testing and contact tracing working hand-in-hand, we cannot get on the road back.”