A Milwaukee Journal Sentinel investigation has found that 1 in 3 Wisconsin nursing homes violated coronavirus protocols, including by asking COVID-positive staff to keep working, not screening visitors for symptoms and not isolating infected residents jsonline.com/in-depth/news/…
Even when inspectors were present, employees at several facilities didn't always wear face masks. Two homes substituted flannel shirts or plastic aprons for gowns, despite having an ample supply. At least 5 didn’t tell residents or families about covid cases for days or weeks.
According to the Journal Sentinel review of hundreds of state and federal inspection reports from March 2020 to January 2021, officials cited 133 of Wisconsin’s 360 nursing homes for coronavirus-related violations, with some of them incurring multiple violations.
Two-thirds of the violations occurred in August or later, months into the pandemic, showing that even with more time and better access to masks and testing, some nursing homes still failed to take basic measures to prevent the spread of the virus.
Most common failure was incorrect use of masks/gowns/other PPE, found in over 70% of cited facilities. Nearly 30% of cited didn't follow quarantine/isolation protocols for residents or staff, didn’t enforce social distancing or commingled COVID-19 positive and negative residents.
To gauge the scope of the problem outside WI, the Journal Sentinel also analyzed inspection reports in Cook County in IL from March through December 2020. The paper found the numbers there were similar: 1 in 3 nursing homes had coronavirus-related violations.
Story by @DaphneChen_, @SarahVolp and Olivia Cohen.
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