Trump pledged COVID-19 rapid tests for nursing homes. California sites are still waiting
The Trump administration in July pledged to send rapid coronavirus testing machines to to nursing homes in hot spots around the country, but they have not yet arrived at some outbreak-challenged sites in the San Joaquin Valley.
Nursing homes in the region are eligible for the machines because the federal government considers the Central Valley to be a hot spot for the novel coronavirus that has about 160,000 Americans this year.
Nursing homes in Stanislaus County have been particularly hard hit. In one nursing home, the Turlock Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, 23 people have died and 167 people have been infected, including both residents and staff. Nursing home deaths account for 40 percent of coronavirus deaths nationwide.
But Stanislaus County officials say nursing homes still haven’t received any machines. Two nursing homes in the county, Central Valley Post Acute and Hy-Lond Health Care Center, are on the list to receive them, according to documents Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Royjindar “Raj” Singh provided to McClatchy.
“From what I have been told, nobody in our county has received any machines yet, but two facilities are on the list to receive one,” Singh said, adding he hadn’t been told anything about when they might be coming.
Rep. Josh Harder, D-Turlock, wrote a letter Wednesday to Director of Health and Human Services Alex Azar demanding answers on the status of the rapid testing machines.
Though the agency promised to send out the first round of rapid testing machines by the end of July and 2,400 machines by mid-August, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services said it could take until November to get rapid testing machines to every nursing home.
“Even once the rapid test machines are all distributed, a shortage of the test kits needed to operate them is expected,” Harder wrote. “If facilities are not able to purchase test kits, their testing machines would be rendered useless until more become available.”
The Trump administration clarified after an initial announcement that it would only provide funding for a first round of testing for nursing home residents and two rounds of testing for staff. Harder said in the letter that wasn’t enough to truly help nursing homes.
“LeadingAge, a national senior care organization, estimates that the cost of weekly testing could total up to $38,000 per week per facility — a significant drain on nursing homes’ budgets at a time when they are already strained,” Harder said. “We all agree more testing is needed, however, we must ensure our nursing homes have the monetary support to sustain the ongoing testing.”
Harder ended the letter by asking Azar to provide information on when nursing homes would receive the machines and how they would help nursing homes pay for additional tests, so the machines wouldn’t be “rendered useless.”
This story was originally published August 13, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
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