State Secretary of Health Demands Nursing Home Staff Biweekly for COVID-19 Testing | Local News

If COVID-19 cases were detected, long-term care facilities needed weekly staff testing.

“North Carolina nursing home residents are the most vulnerable to COVID-19 infections,” Cohen said.

“The behavior of DHHS means that caregivers are less likely to get sick when an outbreak occurs and the outbreak is resolved faster.”

The facility must report all test results. Federal CARES law funds will be used to pay for additional testing.

In July, the State Department of Health and Human Services conducted a baseline test of residents and staff in nursing homes, which is expected to complete nearly 50,000 tests.

The DHHS reported that at noon Saturday, at least 1,074, or 49.7%, of all COVID-19 deaths in the state occurred in nursing homes or residential care facilities. The total includes 11 of Forsyth’s facilities.

Meanwhile, there are at least 9,158 cases at state-wide facilities, accounting for 6.8% of the total.

Local and state health officials said long-term care residents were at increased risk of serious illness from COVID-19, with the majority of cases tending to be associated with infections brought to the institution. ..

“The long-term care community’s communalities can make it difficult to control the incidence of COVID-19,” DHHS said.

“Since the beginning of the pandemic, state leaders have taken proactive steps to protect residents and long-term care staff, focusing on prevention, staffing, testing, outbreak management and oversight. I implemented the strategy.”

By requesting mandatory staff testing every two weeks, Cohen said, “Additional testing and infection control resources are taking extraordinary measures to protect the population and staff during COVID-19, so long-term care. Enhance ongoing work to guide and support the facility.”

DHHS has added 10 regional infection control support teams to support long-term care facilities. These teams provide onsite infection prevention and control assistance.

The difference in the cases of COVID-19 long-term care facilities in the two largest counties of Triad underscores the need for increased staff testing.

Of the 11 Forsyth nursing homes where COVID-19 is active, 8 have more staff in the case than residents and 2 have the same number of staff and residents.

The largest gap currently is the Danby Assisted Living Facility (10 residents, 4 staff), Trinity Elms (5 staff, 1 resident), and Trinity Glen (4 staff, 1 staff). Resident).

Of these 11 active outbreaks, there are cases of 69 inhabitants and 54 staff.

According to the Forsyth County Department of Public Health, there were 11 deaths associated with COVID-19 in all resident care homes.

By comparison, in Guildford County, there are nine active outbreaks in long-term care facilities, with more than just three infecting more staff than the population. In addition to 48 deaths without residents and staff, there are 231 cases between residents and 72 staff.

Nearly 89% of Guildford COVID-19-related deaths, or 136, were 65 or older.

By comparison, 58%, or 28 of Forsyth’s 48 deaths on August 1, were over 65. That is, as of August 1, deaths at nursing homes in Forsyth accounted for 23% of all deaths in the county.

Forsyth public health officials release weekly COVID-19 surveillance data on Tuesday.

Forsyth Deputy Director of Public Health Tony Lo Ghidis said Friday that the mandatory staff tests are useful, but “tests are just snapshots.”

“Testing is one of many strategies along with education and contact tracking, and is used to detect outbreaks early to prevent the spread of infections within nursing homes,” Lo Guidice said.

Lo Guidice said there was no pattern detected in the county whether there was more communication from the county to staff to residents, or vice versa.

“Staff working in multiple facilities and other healthcare facilities can be exposed to viruses in other environments and vendors can bring viruses inside,” Lo Guidice said.

“We are fortunate to have early interventions in our care facilities and those facilities to follow guidelines to limit the number of exposures possible.”