COVID-19 Is Sweeping Through Michigan Nursing Homes, Killing The Elderly And Staff
Just how rampant the coronavirus is at nursing homes across the state is difficult to discern. Michigan health officials have said they hadn't been actively tracking data on nursing homes cases statewide.
In Oakland County, as of Thursday, 92 senior care facilities have had COVID-19 cases, Oakland County Executive David Coulter said. He said 254 people had tested positive and 24 deaths were reported across the senior facilities. States like Louisiana, Minnesota, New York, Mississippi and Georgia have provided some information publicly about care facilities and in Maryland, the governor announced"strike teams" to provide support for nursing homes.
Wayne County spokesman Nowling said in a statement that County Executive Warren Evans"is very concerned about the high concentration of COVID infections and deaths in Wayne County, especially among minority populations which seem more adversely affected." "Because of the lack of testing, we don't know if nursing home workers are carrying the virus from one nursing home to another,” she said.
“We have been saying …'its not a matter of if, but when,'” the Mount Clemens facility announced in a Facebook post. “Our team has worked hard to keep it out for as long as we could, but now comes the next phase — containment.”As of Saturday, there had been nearly 24,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus across Michigan and 1,392 deaths, according to the state health department.
"There are outbreaks associated with our more vulnerable populations," spokeswoman Susan Ringler-Cerniglia said."Talking about those in terms of the numbers is gonna be too identifying for those individuals and facilities." A statement from Regency at Livonia on Friday said the facility had discharged residents with and without coronavirus symptoms to local hospitals.
“Often, we have already heard from the care facility, but there are times when we find out they lived or worked at a care facility during our contact investigation,” said Bill Mullan, spokesman for the Oakland County executive. In Riverview, 21 residents and 15 associates from Rivergate Terrace had been diagnosed with COVID-19 as of Thursday, according to a statement from Executive Director Sujata Chaddha. Seven of the 21 residents had died, three had returned to the facility under isolated care and the others remain hospitalized, and the associates were recovering at home, the statement said.
A Villages of Lapeer resident, a man in his 80s, also died this month, according to the Lapeer County Health Department. On Friday, the Lapeer County Health Department reported the death of a woman in her 80s who was a resident at the Lapeer County Medical Care Facility in its coronavirus update., died in late March after falling ill. He had not been tested for COVID-19, but his sister told the Free Press that he had symptoms, including cough, low-grade fever and shortness of breath.
“The sooner we identify COVID-19 patients, the better,” Coulter said Thursday, also announcing plans to distribute COVID-19 kits containing face shields, masks, gloves and hand sanitizer to senior living facilities to help meet their needs. “I think that number likely, if it represents anything close to reality, it probably represents the very sickest patients,” he said earlier this month.
Kevin Lignell, communications specialist for SEIU Healthcare Michigan, said the union is asking that protective equipment be in the homes, that there be free testing, that all costs from the virus be covered by the homes and employees have paid sick leave. He said some homes have adopted some of these requests, including hazard pay and child care.
He said it’s not unusual for certified nursing assistants — who provide direct care to residents and help with things like using the bathroom and getting dressed — to be paid less than $15 per hour. The letter asks that everyone at Ambassador be tested and personal protective equipment be supplied — immediately. The union said there were two residents and five staff who tested positive, but the home was failing to communicate to employees the existence of the positive tests or those suspected of having the virus, according to the letter.
It called the campaign by SEIU “a targeted smear campaign" and said that Ambassador is in"continual contact" with staff, residents, families and responsible parties. He said Optalis won’t turn its back to patients and local hospitals in a time when they need them the most; and said units are isolated and separate from the rest of the facilities and have their own staff and personal protective equipment.
Pomeroy Living also is accepting recovering COVID-19 cases. It has seven senior communities from independent living to assisted living to two skilled nursing homes, one in Rochester Hills and another in Sterling Heights — both with private COVID-19 units.
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