COVID-19 ravaging long-term care facilities

THE CORONAVIRUS APPEARS to be cutting a wide swath through many of the state’s long-term care facilities, infecting staff and patients at an accelerating pace and causing an increasing number of deaths.

According to state data, the number of infected staff and patients has grown six-fold since Thursday last week, rising from 197 to 1,236. The facilities with at least one infected patient during that time period grew from 85 to 140.

What is unknown is how many deaths have occurred at the facilities. State officials say they have that data; Marylou Sudders, the secretary of health and human services, said she would make it available Tuesday afternoon but aides said on Wednesday it was still not available.

The number of deaths at long-term care facilities appears to be a substantial portion of the 433 deaths across the state so far, judging from the parade of headlines across Massachusetts.

The latest headlines came from the 142-bed AdviniaCare facility in Wilmington, where officials said seven residents with COVID-19 had died and another 77 had tested positive. It was an amazing turnaround for a facility that just last week was offering to move out most of its residents and become a care center for patients with the virus.

There have been similar deadly reports at long-term care facilities across the state, but no detailed breakdown of what is happening where. The Massachusetts Coalition of Families and Advocates said it has also been seeking information on infection rates and deaths at group homes managed by the Department of Development Services which house some 10,000 people but officials said in a statement Wednesday they have received no information yet.

A lot of attention has focused on hospital preparedness for the expected surge in cases that is coming, but long-term care facilities such as nursing homes, soldiers’ homes, and assisted living facilities may be the real front line against COVID-19 because of the vulnerable elderly people with underlying conditions who tend to populate them.

Sudders said mobile testing at long-term care facilities is moving into high gear, with a National Guard team that has conducted 1,600 tests at 103 facilities and was slated to do another 300 tests at 23 facilities on Wednesday.

“The program was started primarily in nursing homes because that’s where some of the most significant outbreaks have been and they are medically-based facilities,” Sudders said at a State House press conference with the governor.

Gov. Charlie Baker and Sudders addressed a number of other issues at the press conference:

Data on ethnicity – The state on Wednesday began releasing information on the racial and ethnic background of people who are contracting COVID-19, but it was full of holes. According to the report, the racial and ethnic background of 67 percent of those who have been infected was not available and the percentage rose to 69 percent for those who died. Sudders said the state issued an order on Wednesday mandating the reporting of the information; previously it had been requested but not required.

“Let me be clear,” Sudders said, “obtaining racial and ethnic data on cases of COVID-19 is crucial for examining where and on whom the burden of illness and death is falling.”

Thumbs down on taxes – The House passed a transportation revenue package early last month, before the coronavirus hit. House lawmakers and transportation advocates are still hoping a bill will pass this year, but Baker indicated his opposition to raising taxes is even stronger now than it was before.

“So in the middle of an economic downturn, where 25 percent, there was a report that was issued today that says as many as 25 percent of our working population could be out of work, we should raise taxes?” he asked. “I don’t think so.”

Ventilator worries – Baker said his administration is exchanging data with the federal government about obtaining ventilators. “It is my hope and my expectation that we will do better on this one by the time we need them,” he said.

He noted how difficult itwas to land protective masks for medical caregivers, including enlisting the New England Patriots to fly to China to get them.

“I think a lot of this stuff is a lot harder than it should be,” he said. “But my parents always said you play the hand [you’re dealt], and we’re going to play it as best we can. But it’s a tough hand.”