Pierce County demands more strident coronavirus prevention at long-term care centers
Story has been updated.
The Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department on Thursday issued an advisory and guidance to providers about the growing number of COVID-19 cases at local health care facilities.
On Friday, in response to questions from The News Tribune, Steve Metcalf, communications specialist with the department, wrote via email that “9 percent of today’s total positive cases are at long-term care facilities. This is a snapshot of today and will likely change over time.”
On Friday, there were 571 cases in Pierce County, putting the long-term care case numbers in the county at around 51.
No further details were made available in terms of which facilities were affected.
On Thursday, the county health department announced that some of the now-released 1,400 FEMA COVID-19 test kits would be made available to long-term care facilities not affiliated with a large health care system.
It noted: “Our older adults living in congregate are one of our highest risk groups of severe health outcomes from COVID-19.”
In an update late Friday, the health department said 500 of the tests have been distributed to long-term care facilities with outbreaks.
In its guidance announcement, the health department said that “effective immediately all long-term care facility staff must wear a mask at work.”
That policy is in place for settings with and without reported cases.
It also instructed staff to “mask patients with respiratory symptoms. Tell them to wear the mask during patient care and transport.”
It also asked the sites’ staff to make sure they “understand CDC guidance” for extending use of personal protective equipment.
Even those facilities without reported cases should “screen patients and staff for fever and respiratory symptoms at least every 8 hours.”
That guidance changes to every four hours with confirmed cases.
If COVID-19 is suspected or confirmed, the site is to notify the health department.
The threat of a coronavirus outbreak at long-term care facilities has loomed large after Life Care Center of Kirkland became an early epicenter of Washington state’s cases, with 40 deaths tied to the facility.
A report published last week in the New England Journal of Medicine detailed the site’s failures of recognizing the threats of the spread of COVID-19 early on.
On Thursday, the Washington Post reported that the Kirkland facility faced a fine of more than $600,000 for lapses in care amid the outbreak and could lose Medicare and Medicaid funding unless corrective action was taken.
This story was originally published April 3, 2020 at 5:46 PM.
