DeSantis doing the same thing as New York.... returning COVID positive patients to nursing homes.
Concerns over Florida nursing home COVID-19 'isolation centers'
https://cbs12.com/news/local/concerns-over-florida-nursing-home-covid-19-isolation-centers
The State of Florida has 23 COVID-19 isolation centers at various nursing homes and long-term care facilities.
There are five of those centers housed in facilities between Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast, according to
a map from the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA).
In some facilities, this lesser known and little understood practice houses COVID-19 positive patients in the same complex as healthy, oftentimes older residents. The COVID-19 patients are typically kept in a separate wing or building from healthy residents and often have a dedicated staff specifically working in the isolation center.
But family members of some residents worry not enough is being done to keep their loved ones safe.
“There are no requirements in terms of how structures need to be sealed off. There are no requirements as to how air flow needs to flow,” said Danielle Cohen, whose grandfather lives in a Broward County long-term care facility now using a portion of their space as an isolation center.
The facilities are created through an agreement between the State of Florida and individual long term care companies, in which the company agrees to house COVID-19 positive patients who are usually discharged from a hospital but still require care. State officials have said isolation centers play an important role in ensuring sick people do not return to their regular nursing homes and in keeping hospital beds available.
Cohen asked staff at her grandfather’s facility and officials with AHCA about the exact requirements that nursing homes have to adhere to when serving as a long term care facility and what specific plans are in place to keep healthy residents from getting sick.
“It's been a mind numbing experience to learn all these lax policies and why I’ve taken it upon myself to get answers,” Cohen said. “There’s no oversight required prior to these long term care facilities opening the isolation wings.”
CBS12 News reached out to ACHA and asked what specific requirements long term care facilities have to meet and maintain to serve as isolation centers, but have not heard back yet.
A representative with the Florida Health Care Association, which represents a number of long term care facilities, said that all facilities follow CDC guidelines to prevent COVID-19 spread and have frequent, rapid testing from the state and federal government. She also added that facilities undergo an inspection from the state before they're approved as an isolation center.
Additionally, the Florida Health Care Association provided numerous links and presentations that were made available to nursing homes from the CDC, Florida Surgeon General Scott Rivkees, and industry groups that outline how nursing homes should create and maintain isolation centers. However, it’s unclear which of the policies are mandates and which are suggestions.
The same representative added that outbreaks in nursing homes are typically due to outbreaks in the surrounding community and are accidentally brought into the facility by staff, rather than residents.
Cohen, however, warns that nursing home residents don’t have a choice as to whether or not their complex turns into an isolation center, adding she believes these centers could pose a serious risk.
“No one has given me any information that makes me feel confident that [they’re] not,” she said.