Ann Arbor Times

The elderly are a population that is at high risk for complications from COVID-19. As a measure of safety, nursing homes and long-term care facilities have imposed strict regulations on who is allowed to access facilities, requiring staff to wear personal protective equipment and screening staff daily for signs of infection.

The Detroit Free Press found that hundreds of cases of the coronavirus have been confirmed among nursing home residents and staff. Dozens of deaths have been linked to nursing homes, despite efforts to mitigate the spread.

Thirty-five percent of Wayne County's confirmed COVID-19 deaths, not including Detroit, have been nursing home residents, according to the Detroit Free Press. All of Detroit's nursing homes have reported suspected or confirmed coronavirus cases.

State officials are working to improve the data they distribute about confirmed cases and recoveries. So far, no statewide information is available on nursing home infections.

Mary Kay Henry, international president of the Service Employees International Union, told the Detroit Free Press that many facilities don't have sufficient supplies of personal protective equipment. Another concern is employees who work at more than one facility.

Because of lack of testing, it's unknown whether employees are carrying the virus from one home to another. There are also dangers from "silent" carriers, those who are asymptomatic.

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan (D) recently announced an initiative to test nursing home residents and staff across the city and turn around rapid results. Dr. Teena Chopra of the Detroit Medical Center said widespread testing at nursing homes will allow those who are positive to be separated from the rest of the population, breaking the chain of transmission. 

Some COVID-19 patients are being returned to nursing homes after a hospital stay. Skilled nursing and rehabilitation facilities play a major role in transitioning patients from the hospital to aftercare and freeing up hospital beds.

In a letter to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and others, Sen. Lana Theis (R-Brighton) requested that patients recovering from COVID-19 stop being relocated from hospitals to nursing homes.

“Given that 64% of deceased COVID-19 patients in Michigan are over the age of 70, it simply does not make sense to unnecessarily increase the risk of infection and death of existing nursing home residents by moving in people who have already been infected by the new coronavirus,” Theis said, according to MiSenateGOP.

“I respectfully suggest that this practice be immediately discontinued and that such persons be relocated to alternative sites, perhaps including existing field hospitals that have been constructed for the express purpose of treating COVID-19.”