Texas Still Won't Say Which Nursing Homes Have COVID-19 Cases. Families Are Demanding Answers.

[TexasTowelie]

by Lomi Kriel, Vianna Davila, ProPublica, and Edgar Walters, The Texas Tribune


As elderly and vulnerable citizens continue to die from COVID-19 in closed-off long-term care centers around the country, many of their relatives have begged elected leaders to release the locations of these outbreaks.

Their pleas have carried weight with governors in Georgia, New York, Oklahoma and Florida, among others, who mandated an accounting of where the virus had spread.

Not in Texas. Despite more than 300 deaths in such facilities, Gov. Greg Abbott has not moved to make public where patients and caretakers have fallen ill or died.

The state’s expansive medical privacy law has made Texas among the most opaque for releasing information about the spread of the coronavirus, even as deaths in these facilities surged nationwide. More than 10,300 elderly people in 23 states have died in long-term care centers, according to the most recent available government data analyzed by the Kaiser Family Foundation, a national health policy think tank.

Read more: https://www.propublica.org/article/texas-still-wont-say-which-nursing-homes-have-covid-19-cases-families-are-demanding-answers

[Bernardo de La Paz]

1. Look for clusters of ownership. Follow the money. Same situation in Florida. . . . nt

[sheshe2]

2. Start with Life Care Center.

Epicenter in Washington of the outbreak. They have 200 locations.

One of the many locations here in MASS was in Littleton. The nurse who was the whistle blower of the conditions there died of COVID19.

As of Friday, 10 residents have died from COVID-19, and 67 residents have tested positive for the virus, some of whom are being treated at local hospitals.

“My heart is with Maria Krier’s family and loved ones. She is a hero in our community, and we are all mourning her loss," reads a statement from Rep. Lori Trahan, who represents the 3rd District of Massachusetts. “Maria showed tremendous courage when she blew the whistle on the outbreak at Life Care Center of Nashoba Valley. Her urgent concern for her fellow nurses and the residents at the facility is a testament to her character and the values that she held.

“We owe it to Maria and to all those that have passed away from COVID-19 at LCC-NV to demand more from the leadership of Life Care. Transparency is paramount during this pandemic, and the health care workers who show up each day along with the families of those still at the facility deserve to know that Life Care is doing everything they can to stop the spread of this virus and prevent additional losses of life.”

Littleton officials have accused Life Care of failing to cooperate with health agents.

They said when public health officials started working to identify close contacts with one person who tested positive, investigators "were stonewalled by officials at Life Care Centers."

https://www.wcvb.com/article/liife-care-center-of-nashoba-valley-nurse-dies-of-covid/32115540

[Bernardo de La Paz]

3. Tragic story. Thanks for posting, and thanks for the name Life Care. . . nt