Nursing homes have 1% of NJ’s population, but 40% of state’s coronavirus deaths – NorthJersey.com

Residents of longterm care facilities in New Jersey account for 40% of the state’s coronavirus fatalities, even though they represent less than 1% of the state’s population, newly released statistics show.  

That grim picture of coronavirus’s toll on New Jersey’s nursing homes emerged Friday as state officials offered a county-by-county glimpse of the number of virus outbreaks and their casualties at longterm care facilities. Altogether, 1,530 residents of such facilities have died in New Jersey since the epidemic began. 

“You’ve got a vulnerable population and a deadly virus,” said Gov. Phil Murphy, “and if that weren’t enough, you’ve got some folks who aren’t doing what they should be doing.”

He referred to operators of private facilities, who in some cases failed to provide adequate protective equipment for their employees and lacked the space to separate residents once they became ill.  

Half of Bergen County’s 714 fatalities — and 40% of the state’s 3,840 fatalities — have occurred among residents of longterm care facilities. The full details remain obscure, however, because state officials refuse to provide the names of the facilities where deaths have occurred, other than those already reported in the press.  

An estimated 61,000 New Jersey residents live in longterm care facilities: about 42,000 in the state’s 375 skilled nursing facilities and another 19,000 in 240 assisted living residences, according to figures from the Health Care Association of New Jersey.  

See the list: NJ coronavirus cases listed by town for Bergen, Morris, Passaic and Essex counties

North Jersey: Family was told their dad at Paramus vets home was rebounding from COVID. He had died hours earlier

Nearly 400 of these facilities now have outbreaks, including 51 in Bergen County, 40 in Monmouth, and 38 in Essex.  

Collectively, their residents account for about 12% of the 78,500 people who have tested positive for coronavirus infection and 40% of the state’s deaths due to complications of the virus. Family members report, however, that many residents of longterm care institutions have not been tested. 

At Atrium Subacute Care at Park Ridge, for example, where 33 residents — one quarter of the resident population — have died since the pandemic began, Claire Collins, age 87, died on April 6, after experiencing a cough and feeling unwell for several days.  

“We wanted her to be counted,” said her daughter, Catherine Collins Mullen, of Harrington Park. Her mother was not tested for COVID-19 before she died. Afterward, the family asked the nursing home staff to test her posthumously, and was refused. They went to the county medical examiner, and were also refused, because of scarce testing kits, Mullen said.  

Daniel Martel, whose mother is a current resident of the Park Ridge nursing home, said he had been told by the director of nursing that “she is only given five tests at a time, and they only test symptomatic individuals.”

Eighty of the Park Ridge home’s remaining 101 residents are currently exhibiting symptoms, the facility’s spokeswoman said.  

Gov. Phil Murphy expressed particular outrage Friday about conditions at the Andover Subacute and Rehabilitation Center in Sussex County, where the bodies of 17 residents were found in a makeshift storage area earlier this week. State Attorney General Gurbir Grewal has confirmed an investigation of operations there, and state and federal inspectors are investigating conditions there.   

But other nursing homes, including the state-run New Jersey Veterans Home at Paramus, where 36 of 251 residents have died and 101 have tested positive for coronavirus, also have experienced a large number of fatalities.   

Elderly persons and those with underlying conditions such as diabetes, hypertension and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease are particularly vulnerable to the disease caused by coronavirus. Nursing home conditions, with their close contact between caregivers and residents and shared rooms, have accelerated the spread of COVID-19 to claim a disproportionate number of lives. 

In addition, some employees at such facilities could be asymptomatic but still carry the virus into the facilities and unknowingly infect the residents they are caring for. In mid-March the state halted visits by family members to the facilities to reduce the spread of the virus.

Release of the county-by-county data is “a step in the right direction,” said Ev Liebman, advocacy director for the state chapter of the AARP, “but more needs to be done. 

“The names of facilities should be made public,” Liebman said. “We continue to hear reports that families are not being provided with timely information from these homes. The public needs to know which long-term care facilities have COVID-19 residents so … we can find out what is being done to protect residents, staff and the local community.” 

Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli noted that two guidance documents had been issued to nursing home administrators, on March 6 and April 14, advising them of their responsibility to communicate with residents, staff and residents’ family members about disease outbreaks.  

That requirement was made law after the 2018 outbreak of a different virus at the Wanaque Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation, which claimed the lives of 11 ventilator-dependent children.  

Perischilli said she was confident that most homes were communicating, as required. The Health Department will not release the names of specific facilities with outbreaks because of privacy concerns, she said. 

Several other states, including New York and Connecticut, do report the names of facilities, however. “This does not violate the privacy of individuals and is very important for public health,” said Liebman.

Lindy Washburn is a senior healthcare reporter for NorthJersey.com. To keep up-to-date about how changes in the medical world affect the health of you and your family, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: washburn@northjersey.com Twitter: @lindywa 

Read or Share this story: https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/coronavirus/2020/04/17/coronavirus-nj-nursing-home-deaths-account-40-percent-njs-fatalities/5155332002/