Covid-19 testing of all nursing home residents, staff complete, Pa. health department says

All of Pennsylvania’s 693 nursing homes have completed at least one round of covid-19 testing for all residents and staff, Pennsylvania Department of Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine announced Tuesday.

This first round of testing will help to prevent further spread of the virus by detecting residents and staff who might be asymptomatic, Levine said.

“The prevalence of covid-19 in nursing homes is directly related to the prevalence of covid-19 in the communities in which they are located,” Levine said. “The more the virus is spreading in the community, the more likely it is that one of our heroic health care workers at a nursing home contract the virus and unknowingly spread it.”

These test results will help to determine protocols for retesting, which are in development, Levine said.

“It’s not a one-time thing,” she said.

Levine called on nursing homes and other long-term care facilities in May to prepare for universal testing, but neither the state nor the facilities had the testing supplies or manpower to carry out mass testing at that time, she said.

That call was followed by a June 8 order requiring all of the state’s nursing homes and long-term care facilities to complete resident and staff testing by July 24.

“We do have that testing capacity now,” Levine said.

Progress toward that goal was slow: As of July 15 only 349 facilities, about 50%, had completed testing. Levine said Tuesday that partnerships with CVS Health and Eurofins helped to provide access to testing services at no cost to facilities.

“By completing universal testing, facilities are one step closer to achieving all the goals set out to allow safe visitation, communal dining and activities,” Levine said.

Personal care and assisted living facilities overseen by the state Department of Human Services must complete at least one round of testing by Aug. 31.

A daily update compiled by the health department showed that a combined 4,857 deaths — about 68% of all covid-19 deaths in Pennsylvania — occurred among residents in nursing home and personal care facilities overseen by the state health department and human services department.