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These 169 Idaho nursing homes and care facilities have had COVID-19 outbreaks

Idaho Statesman - 8/29/2020

Aug. 29--More than 2,000 cases of COVID-19 have been reported in Idaho's nursing homes, assisted living facilities and group homes since the pandemic reached Idaho in March, according to Idaho long term care and federal nursing home records.

There have been 169 facilities with at least one case, the records show. Of those, 111 reported no new suspected or confirmed cases among residents or staff in the most recent case data. The other 58 outbreaks are growing.

Dozens of facilities have managed to halt the coronavirus before it could infect more than one resident or staff member, records show. Others have reported large outbreaks, some with dozens of cases. COVID-19 has taken the lives of at least 196 people in Idaho's long term care facilities.

Several nursing homes have reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that they lack adequate protective equipment to keep their staff and patients safe. Many are dealing with shortages of nursing staff, aides and other employees -- who make up a large share of the COVID-19 cases tied to those facilities, according to CDC records.

Several nursing homes told the CDC in mid-August that they couldn't test their residents and staff as often as necessary, citing a lack of supplies, trained personnel and lab capacity. Some told the CDC that it took more than a week to get test results.

Families have reported trouble getting information about outbreaks and coronavirus testing in their loved ones' facilities. To help provide more transparency, the Idaho Statesman has created a searchable online database and map, using state and federal records. The state records are based on information reported to the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare by local health districts. The federal records are based on information reported to the CDC by nursing homes.

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There are likely to be some inaccuracies in the data. These may be due to reporting delays, data entry errors, clerical errors or faulty reporting.

The CDC record is more than a week behind the state record, so its data may be significantly delayed. In some cases, the CDC data may overstate the number of cases in a facility. For example, one nursing home's CDC record showed three infected residents for every one person who actually lived there. The Statesman has redacted CDC numbers that are likely to be inaccurate in the database.

On the other hand, some outbreaks that nursing homes reported to the CDC did not show up in state records, or they showed up much later. For example, one nursing home had been reporting an outbreak to the CDC for about two months before the state's records showed any cases there.

The state recently completed 115 inspections at nursing homes, looking specifically at COVID-19 infection control. They found 49 nursing homes had no deficiencies in their practices, 66 with at least one deficiency and nine nursing homes with deficiencies that put their residents in immediate danger.

The most common problems inspectors found included failing to properly isolate or separate patients with COVID-19, improper hand hygiene or use of PPE, screening people who entered the facility and not having dedicated staff for residents with COVID-19, according to the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, were

See an error? Email reporter Audrey Dutton at adutton@idahostatesman.com. Have a story for us to investigate? Follow the instructions at idahostatesman.com/news/investigative-tips to communicate with our investigative team as safely and securely as possible.

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