The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is considering whether or not to start keeping a formal tally of homes with ongoing cases after criticism from Democratic senators who want the numbers – and names – of homes where outbreaks have taken place, NBC reports.
The CDC so far had stated on 23 March that there were 146 homes with at least one case. Just a week later on 30 March, the CDC said there were more than 400 facilities – a jump of 172%.
But on Monday, an agency spokesperson said the CDC had not update figures – and its previous tallies had come from asking the states for their tallies.
Policy experts have questioned the lack of data being collected and reported.
“How do we identify and contain COVID-19 in nursing homes if we can’t even measure it accurately? How do we learn and implement best practices if we aren’t studying the existing cases?” David C. Grabowski, a professor of health care policy at Harvard Medical School, said.
Democratic Senators have also demanded a list of facilities with infections from the agency, saying it is imperative that the list of facilities with a COVID-19 case be made public and shared with health care providers, authorities and Congress on a real-time basis.
As we reported yesterday, the Department of Health has publishing a list of cases in both residential care and home care by state – but this list does not name the operator or facility.
Aged care advocates have argued that this is keeping families and the public in the dark.
But our experience is that operators who are affected are being transparent about their cases and how they are dealing with them.
Will ‘outing’ them make a difference?
