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Oct 9

Colchester nursing home outbreak deepens as long-term care facilities struggle with safety of visits – theday.com

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Coronavirus cases and deaths continue to mount at the Harrington Court Nursing Home in Colchester, which on Tuesdayreported a total of 53 residents and 12 staff membershave tested positive for COVID-19, and five residents have died.

Thirty-sevenof the infected residents remain in Harrington Court, and 11have been moved to Quinnipiac Valley COVID Recovery Facility in Wallingford, said Dr. Richard Feifer, chief medical officer for Harrington owner Genesis Healthcare, in an email.

The state Department of Public Health has inspected the facility at least seven times since the first resident tested positive on Sept. 16. Inspectors found several infection control issues, which the facility is addressing, and for which it will be cited, according to Av Harris, DPH spokesman. Harris said therewas no update on the investigation as of Tuesday.

The latest state inspection information available for HarringtonCourt indicates no deficiencies were cited following an April 20COVID-19-focused survey to determine compliance with infection prevention and control practices.

Feifersaid the facility remains stringent with restrictions and has diligently followed guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control andPreventionand Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, sometimes adopting even more stringent infection precautions than were recommended at the time. Harrington Court also is followingthe direction of theDPHin an effort to contain and minimize the spread of the virus, Feifer said.

Due to the outbreak, the facility is no longer allowing residents to have outdoor visits with family members.

Some family members who have been unable to have indoor visits with relatives in Connecticut nursing homes since Marcharegrowing increasingly concerned about the physical and mental health of their loved ones.

An independent review of Connecticut nursing home performanceduring the pandemic conducted by Mathematica Inc. indicated that depression increased by 15% for residents of long-term care facilities and unplanned weight loss doubledfollowing the shutdown of visitation in March. The depression declined slightly when outdoor visits started in May.

The policy decisions were critically important to stop the outbreak, Patricia Rowan, project director for Mathematica, told lawmakers during a review of the study Monday. But the analysis provides an evidence base to support the concerns of those who say the policy responses came at the cost of the emotional well-being of residents in facilities.

Acting Department of Public Health Commissioner Deidre Gifford saidshe would hesitate to draw a line between the visitation policy and the depression and weight loss.

Though theCenters for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued a directive that opened up indoor visits on Sept. 17, facilities must have had no cases of COVID-19 for the past 14 days and are recommended to use the positivity rates of infection within their counties to determine whether to allow indoor visits.

As of Monday, the state reported a3% positivity rate for infection in southeastern Connecticut. The federal guidance indicates that indoor visits, beyond compassionate careand end-of-life visits,can take place if the rate is below 5%, but some facilities have been slow toreinstate indoor visits.

Liz Stern of Stonington, whose 92-year-old mother resides in a Mystic nursing home that has remained free of COVID-19 throughout the pandemic, has been working with other family members to advocate for nursing home residents suffering due to isolation.

She said her mother, who is paralyzed and has vascular dementia, was accustomed to daily visits from her daughter prior to the pandemic and is unable to have outdoor visits.

For months, Stern, who declined to name the facility where her mother resides,said she has been seeing her mother once a week, through a picture window, where they use cellphones to speak and where sometimes they can't see each other through the glare.

Stern said thenursing home stafftold her Monday that they have completely shut down inside visits because of the infection rate in New London County, which has climbed in recent days.

The facility agreed to an "expanded compassionate care visit," telling Stern she has to have a negative COVID-19 test and wear full personal protective equipment, including mask, face shield, gloves and gown, in order to visit her mother and touch her hand.

Stern said she received the negative COVID-19 test result, but has no immediate plan to visit her mother under those circumstances, which she said would be confusing for her mother and won't address her needs.

She said the visitation policy is being driven by fear.

"We can do better, and we can be safe," Stern said by phone. "We have to redefine what safe is. The virus will continue to trickle in and trickle out. For good nursing homes with protocols it will continue to drip in, but the drip of the infection is nothing compared to the tsunami of damage that's been done by the isolation."

k.florin@theday.com

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Colchester nursing home outbreak deepens as long-term care facilities struggle with safety of visits - theday.com

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