The state confirmed this week that the new coronavirus has spread to at least 34 senior care homes throughout Oregon and nearly 90 homes are under investigation for possible cases.
But the Oregon Department of Human Services still has not provided basic information that could alert the public about the extent of the exposure so families and others who need to know can protect residents and themselves.
The department has not revealed individual counts of residents and caregivers reported to be infected at each home despite multiple requests from The Oregonian/OregonLive.
Agency officials have cited confidentiality concerns, but many private nursing homes release the information on their own. Without the disclosures, major outbreaks at homes such as Laurelhurst Village in Portland -- with at least 29 sick staff and residents -- would remain unknown.
Spokeswoman Elisa Williams said the department wants to make sure whatever data it releases is accurate and does not violate patient privacy. The agency does not get copies of the documentation showing a positive test result, Williams said, and the agency does not know if each facility is diligent in reporting each new case.
In the meantime, DHS is monitoring senior care homes that have rapidly increasing caseloads “to determine their staffing and infection control supplies are adequate.”
The newsroom contacted more than two dozen of the facilities directly to compile its own list last week that found 66 residents and 44 workers had tested positive for coronavirus at 29 nursing homes, assisted living centers or adult care homes.
The state decision to so far withhold the information flies in the face of U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden’s demand last week for similar information from the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services for all nursing homes in the country.
Even though health care workers are taking steps to safeguard nursing home residents, Wyden said, “Timely information about how and where this virus is spreading is critical to successful mitigation of the virus’s spread, direction of resources and access to support.”
Wyden and Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., gave the federal agency an April 16 deadline to provide a list of all nursing homes with at least one coronavirus case, the number of cases at each place and a list of people who have had access to the nursing homes.
Williams, the DHS spokeswoman, said that all facilities with one or more cases face equally strict policies to limit the spread of infection.
“You should take a single instance of the disease as seriously as you would multiple cases,” she said.
Criticism of Oregon’s lack of transparency may have gotten the state’s long-term care ombudsman, Fred Steele, in trouble. A state official cut off Steele’s easy access to internal coronavirus figures after he shared them with The Oregonian/OregonLive. Steele no longer gets the twice-a-day updates.
Mike McCormick, interim director of the Department of Human Services branch that regulates senior care homes, referred to Steele’s sharing of the data as a “breach of trust.”
“We will not be sending any more at this point,” McCormick wrote. “My suggestion is to begin your own list or ask the Governor’s Office to reverse my decision.” The Ombudsman’s Office gave the newsroom McCormick’s email in response to a public records request.
Williams said the department works closely with Steele’s office and continues to share with him the executive orders it sends the facilities that have a positive or suspected case.
Steele’s office oversees a network of volunteers who monitor senior care homes for quality of care. Steele’s agency also answers questions from families and residents and fields some complaints about abuse and neglect at senior care homes.
While Steele said coronavirus case counts would help him direct his volunteers to facilities with bigger outbreaks, he endorsed the latest release Tuesday by the state.
It shows 12 senior care homes reported one or more employee infected with COVID-19, seven reported one or more infected residents and eight reported at least one infected resident and at least one infected employee. The numbers were current as of last Friday, and are scheduled for updates twice a week.
For one of the facilities, the state didn’t know if it was a resident or employee who tested positive for the coronavirus.
The state noted that six of the facilities are adult foster homes. It would confirm only that a coronavirus case had reported detected at the homes but not whether it was a resident or employee.
Another 87 senior care homes await results of coronavirus tests, the department said.
The state has about 2,000 homes – 700 of them nursing and assisted living centers – with about 45,000 residents.
A separate state agency, the Oregon Department of Veterans’ Affairs, has released more comprehensive information about a breakout of coronavirus at its veterans home in Lebanon – now up to 19, with 13 recoveries and three deaths. But the VA has declined to disclose how many of its caregivers have tested positive.
An example of the people who need to know the extent of coronavirus illnesses at senior care homes is Bruce McKee, a driver for Willamette Valley Transport. The company drives people from care homes to their medical appointments and back.
McKee has volunteered to handle patients who have COVID-19.
While the entire company is taking many extra precautions for all patients, it would make a big difference, he said, if he knew that a nursing home where he was going had a significant outbreak.
It would mean a more stringent disinfection of the van, for instance, he said.
“I would consider anybody I got out of there to be a potential carrier,” McKee said. “I would assume that would help slow the spread.”
-- Fedor Zarkhin
desk: 503-294-7674|cell: 971-373-2905|@fedorzarkhin
Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories.