The Trump administration announced Tuesday that testing will be required at a pace depending on the level of coronavirus spread in a community. Earlier in the summer,
"While CMPS (civil monetary penalties) are not new, we are disappointed that the
In
As of Wednesday, 4,044 Ohioans have died from the coronavirus since the beginning of the pandemic, and more than half of those deaths are residents who lived in long-term care communities such as nursing homes.
Nursing home leaders have asked for urgent support in the face of the pandemic, requesting help with personal protective equipment and other expenses and demands that have piled up. Assisted living communities have also faced similar struggles with infection control and testing.
The state began an effort last week to give a baseline saliva test at all 765 assisted living facilities at no cost to the facilities, but Gov.
"We've paused this method of specimen collection temporarily as we conduct controlled validation testing to determine why there have been irregularities," DeWine said.
The Associated Press reported the testing requirement for staff will be keyed to the level of virus activity in local areas. If the rate of tests coming back positive is below 5%, nursing homes will have to test staff once a month. If the rate is 5% -- 10%, testing will be required once a week. If the rate is above 10%, staff will have to be tested twice a week.
"If you're in one of those counties, you're required to tests twice a week and we can't even get results back in two weeks in some cases,"
The federal government also announced it will provide
He said many nursing homes are still waiting on rapid testing machines from the federal government, will need to then figure out supplies going forward for those machines, and are struggling to get timely lab results on testing under their current testing method.
___
(c)2020 the Dayton Daily News (Dayton, Ohio)
Visit the Dayton Daily News (Dayton, Ohio) at www.daytondailynews.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Shortchanged California firefighters to be paid $4.8 million in back wages
Nashua Chamber launches group 401(k) plan
Advisor News
Annuity News
Health/Employee Benefits
Life Insurance