Gov. Murphy Gets Grilled On Nursing Home Crisis Amid Coronavirus

NEW JERSEY — After announcements Thursday that ten people died in a veterans' home in Paramus and five passed away in a "short staffed" nursing home nearby, the governor's office was grilled Friday on why more information isn't being released in a timely manner about coronavirus cases in the facilities, and about precautions the state is taking to make sure they're staffed to protect the state's vulnerable residents.

The facilities don't only house seniors, but also people who recovering after hospitalizations and other issues.

It was known early in the coronavirus crisis that nursing homes were vulnerable, as 10 people died in early March linked to a home in Washington State.

But New Jersey has not been posting numbers of patients infected in nursing homes, rehabilitation facilities, and group homes, nor have they idenitified the specific facilities and their impacts.

"I don't want to sugar-coat what's in the nursing homes," said Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli at the governor's daily briefing on Friday. "We are on it full-time. But it's going to be very difficult."

She said the state is trying to go through the 375 long-term care facilities to see if they can "cohort appropriately" so that residents can stay, and so that residents with the virus are separate from those who are healthy. They are also trying to "cohort the employees" so people aren't moving from floors with positive patients to floors with healthy patients.

"We have a number of contracted nursing homes that said they would take all covid-19 patients, but what we're paying attention to first, is which ones we can cohort," she said.

She said for those that can't cohort, staff will get protective equipment and treat everyone as if they are a potential case.

Regarding some being short staffed, she said that volunteers are needed, and more staff had been sent to some veterans' homes. But she said licensed registered nurses are also needed at hospitals.

She was asked about complaints the state had gotten about homes that receive Medicaid.

"There's a lot [of facilities] we have concerns about," she said. "[Regarding] covering them all, some of it will have to be remotely ... The frail and vulnerable of our nursing homes, we knew at the beginning were going to be at risk."

A reporter asked why positive cases aren't being reported from each home on the state dashboard.

Gov. Murphy said that he wanted to be sure the numbers were correct first, just like before they started releasing numbers of hospitalizations.

Persichilli said 100,000 people in the state are in various long-term care facilities like rehabilitation centers, group homes, dementia homes, and other nursing homes.

The state was pressed for the names of three nursing homes that receive government funding and are under state scrutiny, which were mentioned at a Wednesday press conference. Murphy and Persichilli said perhaps those were the homes mentioned already in the press.

Murphy said, "I want to say this. We talk about data, we talk about homes, positive tests, strategies, policies — I want to make sure everybody out there knows that we know that each and every one of these people are human beings. They have family ... in a once-in-a-century onslaught we want to save every life we can."

In the last week, several troubling statistics have emerged about nursing homes in New Jersey, but only after patients died. In the town of North Bergen in Hudson County, 30 elderly people have died in the townships's three long-term care facilities.

Mayor Nicholas Sacco said Wednesday, “Our Health Department is working with these facilities to put as many safeguards in place as possible, such as isolating residents and not allowing visitors to enter. I ask all of North Bergen to join me in mourning these men and women."

At the press conference Friday, officials gave statistics about the age range of those who died, and also said that 52 percent of them did not have underlying conditions. READ MORE.

Also at the conference, officials were asked about people in nursing homes who pass away without being tested, and how that affects the total numbers.

"We know that we're missing people," said Dr. Edward Lifshitz, director of the Communicable Disease Service at the Department of Human and Social Services. "The numbers are not going to be perfect. We think we're doing a pretty good job and we're pretty close. There's never going to be an absolute accounting."

Murphy announced Friday that 233 more people had died in 24 hours, raising New Jersey's number to 1,932. And 7,570 are hospitalized with the virus. READ MORE.

Dawn Thomas, a spokeswoman for the New Jersey Department of Health, said later, in response to questions from Patch about nursing homes, "The Department continues to work with long-term care facilities to deliver infection control education to facilities with outbreaks ... We ordered facilities to curtail visitors on March 14. On March 6 and again on April 6 we sent notifications to nursing homes, assisted living ,and other long-term facilities about their responsibility under the law to have outbreak plans that include clear policies for the notification of residents, staff and family members when COVID cases have been identified."

She added, "Our goal is to keep those who haven’t been exposed safe and to ensure those exposed or tested positive get the care they need and have the space, staff and supplies to support care of patients with COVID-19."

She said, "All long-term care facilities are required to report cases to the local health department where the facility is located. The commissioner has reminded facilities of their statutory obligation to inform staff, residents, and relatives."

Complaints about the facilities can be made anonymously to 800-792-9770.

Persichilli said that in general, some people who need to quarantine and don't have adequate housing may be moved to dorms and hotels, as medical professionals may be as well. "There's a whole series of spaces available not only for patients, but for our health care workers," she said.

Payton Potter contributed to this story.

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