Warren Co. Nursing Home COVID-19 Deaths Continue To Rise

WARREN COUNTY, NJ - As the new coronavirus, or COVID-19, pandemic in nursing home and long-term care facilities continues to claim more lives, Gov. Phil Murphy has called in the National Guard to assist.

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Murphy said the nursing home and long-term care industry have been "slow to adapt" as 22,602 coronavirus cases have been identified and 4,151 have died – about half of the state's overall total.

Murphy said his administration has been leading reviews of long-term care facilities and enforcing measures to protect residents and staff.

Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli said her department has already curtailed visitation, enforced the notification of outbreaks and required people to wear masks. Now they've also:

• Worked with the National Guard to provide "some efforts" in assisting the facilities, although they weren't specified.
• Conducted an inspection of 60 facilities in April to check for the availability of personal protective equipment, the quality of infection control and staffing levels, among other criteria.
• Directed at least four sites to develop "directed plans of correction" after the inspections, and several facilities have to bring in consultants to assist. She didn't identify the facilities.
• A big part of the nursing home and long-term care problem is that, health officials have acknowledged, the numbers are probably higher – maybe even way higher – than reported.

The state has a dashboard set up that tracks the number of cases statewide, including how many cases and fatalities involve long-term care facilities. In Warren County there are 426 cases spread among the seven impacted facilities. There have been 69 deaths at these facilities as reported by the New Jersey Department of Health on Monday.

The largest outbreak in Warren County was at Brakeley Park. The report shows that 121 cases were logged there and out of those there were 21 deaths.

According to Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services records, Brakeley Park carries an overall four star above average rating. The facility holds an average health inspection rating with lower citations than the New Jersey average and an average staffing rating. Their quality measures rating earned top marks with five stars.

Here are the facilities in Warren County that have patients positive for the coronavirus, followed by the deaths that have happened at those facilities. The list of facilities was provided by the state Department of Health; there may be discrepancies due to a delay in communications between the facilities and the state:

• Phillipsburg Center, Phillipsburg Township, 3, 0
• The House of The Good Shepherd, Hackettstown Twp, 36, 3
• Warren Haven Rehabilitation and Nursing Center, Mansfield Twp, 59, 5
• Lopatcong Center, Lopatcong Twp, 129, 9
• Forest Manor Health Care Center, Frelinghuysen, 94, 13
• The Chelsea at Brookfield, White Twp, 47, 15
• Brakeley Park, Lopatcong Twp, 121, 21

Statewide, 22,602 cases of the coronavirus have been identified at 509 long-term care facilities. There have been 4,151 deaths at these facilities, with the most egregious case documented at the Andover Subacute & Rehab Center Two, where police removed 17 bodies from the facility last week. Read more here:'Makeshift Morgue' Nursing Home In NJ Had Violations, Complaints

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