In Pennsylvania Covid-19 is mainly a nursing home phenomenon. 68% of Pennsylvania’s Covid-19 deaths are in nursing homes. In Pittsburgh area, 80% of Covid-19 deaths are in nursing homes-KDKA

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Pennsylvania: 2108 of 3106 total Covid-19 deaths=68%
Coronavirus cases in Pennsylvania nursing homes:

May 6: As of 12 p.m. May 6, 2020, Covid-19 deaths in 502 nursing and personal care homes in Pennsylvania: 2108 (scroll down to end of article)

May 7: Total Covid-19 deaths in Pennsylvania as of May 7, 2020: 3106. 

Pennsylvania nursing home association has twice written to Gov. Wolf asking for help but have heard no reply.   

4/28/20, “Pa. nursing homes say they need more help from state as deaths climb from COVID-19,” PennLive.com, Christine Vendel  

“The association sent a letter to Gov. Wolf’s administration March 18 outlining their needs and hopes of getting some of the $1.5 billion in emergency funding but they got no response, Shamberg said. They sent a second later and again, no response, he said. Yet long-term care facilities are more susceptible to the deadly outcomes from the virus because its residents are more vulnerable with their age and preexisting conditions. Cases continue to spread in long-term homes even though precautions are in place because workers still could be asymptomatic and unsuspectingly bring the highly contagious coronavirus into a facility. 

Nursing homes already have restricted visitors, stopped communal dining and group activities as well as screening staff for symptoms, but the facilities need tests to check workers who could be asymptomatic, Shamberg said.”  
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Comment: Meaning, seniors are isolated, placed in rooms with the door closed, allowed no visits from family members, allowed to see no one except an occasional staff member from the institution. Many seniors in nursing homes have dementia and need social interaction more than anything. This isolation is torture for them. This has happened because the only people who could’ve told anyone about it, loved ones of the residents, were banned from visiting.
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Added: “Pennsylvanian’s nursing homes continue to be hit hard by COVID-19, accounting for nearly 70 percent of the coronavirus-related deaths statewide.” The total rises to 80% in the Pittsburgh area: 

May 5, 2020, “Coronavirus In Pennsylvania: 80 Percent Of The Region’s COVID-19 Deaths Are In Long-Term Care Facilities,” pittsburgh.cbslocal.com, Andy Sheehan, KDKA 

“Pennsylvanian’s nursing homes continue to be hit hard by COVID-19, accounting for nearly 70 percent of the coronavirus-related deaths statewide.

Here in our region, KDKA Investigator Andy Sheehan reports 80 percent of coronavirus-related deaths have been residents in nursing homes and long-term care facilities. 

At these facilities, the virus has become a deadly contagion that’s defied all effort to contain it. Now, grieving families want to see stronger action. 

Cynthia Motton and her family say they had to stand by powerless as coronavirus spread through Glen Hazel Kane Regional, taking the life of their father, Charles Graham, and 11 others. Now they want to know if more could have been done. 

“There’s no words to say how heartbreaking this is,” said Motton. 

Out of the 3,012 total deaths across Pennsylvania, state officials say 2,029 [67%] have occurred in residents from nursing or personal care facilities…. 

RELATED STORIES:

• Coronavirus In Pennsylvania: Nursing Homes Hit Hard, Including Beaver Co. Facility Where 11 Are Dead
• ‘It’s Going Through Nursing Homes Like Wildfire’: Woman Speaks Out After 73-Year-Old Father Dies Of Coronavirus
• Coronavirus in Beaver County: Workers At Nursing Home To Receive Hazard Pay, Personal Protective Equipment
• Beaver Co. Nursing Home Presuming All 800 Residents And Staff Have Coronavirus
• Coronavirus In Beaver County: Healthcare Workers Who Walked Off The Job Citing Unsafe Conditions Reach Deal With Owners
• Workers Highly Concerned, Demanding Safer Conditions And Hazard Pay After Coronavirus Outbreak At Beaver Co. Nursing Home

“We just can’t sit back and continue to watch it happen and get a phone call that your loved on is dead. That’s not good enough,” said Tim Smith, the pastor at Keystone Church. 

At Glen Hazel, Allegheny County says it has followed CDC guidelines to isolate and contain the virus, but as in other nursing homes and extended care facilities across the region, COVID-19 has defied all those efforts, claiming the vast majority of its victims…. 

“Look, full disclosure, my father is in a long term care facility. It’s personal,” says state Rep. Rob Matzie, whose district includes Brighton Rehabilitation and Wellness Center where 60 people have reportedly died. He’s introduced a bill to intervene in nursing home operations to try to stop this deadly contagion. 

“It basically says that all residents as well as staff would get tested and all facilities would get an inspection, and I think that’s necessary,” says Matzie…. 

The state health departments says it’s done all it can do to equip the facilities with protective equipment while offering guidance to contain the outbreaks but critics say they were slow to test residents and staff to identify and prevent spread [and they received none of the $1.5 billion emergency fund mentioned in top article.”


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