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Luzerne, Wyoming counties see spike in nursing home COVID-19 cases while Lackawanna remains stable

Times-Tribune - 11/15/2020

Nov. 15--The number of COVID-19-positive residents at several nursing homes in Luzerne and Wyoming counties spiked by more than 150 cases in the past month, while Lackawanna County homes reported just three additional cases.

The Gardens at Tunkhannock nursing home in Wyoming County saw the biggest surge, rising from no cases as of Oct. 13 to 77 as of Friday, according to information from the home's COVID-19 hotline. Staff cases also dramatically increased, from none to 44, the home reported.

Four of the 25 nursing homes in Luzerne County also saw a significant surge in positive residents and staff in roughly the same time frame, according to the state Department of Health. The largest increase occurred at Birchwood Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center in Nanticoke, which reported 52 new cases among residents and 19 among staff members between Oct. 13 and Nov. 10.

Other homes reporting spikes were the Pavilion at St. Luke Village in Hazleton, 34 residents and 11 staff; Allied Services Meade Street Skilled Nursing, Wilkes-Barre, 34 residents and 23 staff and Allied Services John Heinz Transitional Rehabilitation Center, Wilkes-Barre, 10 residents and 15 staff.

Most other Luzerne County homes reporting data to the Health Department saw no increases in cases. Data for several homes -- including Timber Ridge Health Center and the Gardens at Wyoming Valley, both in Wilkes-Barre, and Kadima Rehabilitation and Nursing at Lakeside in Dallas was not available because they failed to report figures to the state Department of Health for the past several weeks.

In Lackawanna County, two nursing homes reported an increase in resident cases: The Jewish Home of Eastern Pa. had two new cases while the Carbondale Nursing and Rehabilitation Center had a single new case.

Several other Lackawanna County homes had no increase in resident cases, but saw a bump in staff cases: Gino J. Merli Veterans Center had 10 new staff cases; Abington Manor, five; the Jewish Home of Eastern Pa and Allied Services Skilled Nursing, two each. Three homes each had one new staff case: Linwood Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, St. Mary's Villa Nursing Home and Carbondale Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. Health care officials say multiple factors likely played a role in the disparate figures. Some relate to policies at specific homes, but others, including the degree of community spread, are outside the home's control.

The number of cases in the general public is a key predictor of whether the virus will spread to nursing homes, said Charlene Harrington, Ph.D, a professor emerita of nursing at the University of California, San Francisco, who has researched and written extensively about nursing homes.

"We know from research that it is going to account for a lot of it because the nursing home workers are exposed in the community," she said.

It's not clear how much impact that had locally.

The number of new cases overall in Lackawanna and Luzerne counties has steadily increased the past several weeks, but the change between the counties has not been drastic.

Data from the state Department of Health shows the total number of people diagnosed with COVID-19 in Luzerne County since the pandemic began increased from 4,458 on Oct. 13, to 6,339 on Nov. 10, or 42%. Lackawanna County's case count increased from 3,033 to 4,147, or 37.2%.

The Wyoming County case count, in comparison, increased by 171%, from 91 to 247 cases. That figure is not solely indicative of COVID-19's presence in the community because it includes the nursing home cases.

Officials at several area nursing homes have stressed repeatedly they are following all COVID-19 safety protocols, including frequent testing of staff and residents, using personal protective equipment and isolating positive residents from the rest of the home's population.

Harrington and other medical officials say they are all important steps, but it's crucial homes also have proper staffing, particularly registered nurses.

"Registered nurses are educated to coordinate care and to make sure that all of the protocols around infection control are carried out appropriately," said Mary Jane K. DiMattio, Ph.D, a professor of nursing at the University of Scranton.

Margarete Zalon Ph.D, also a professor of nursing at the University of Scranton, said it is possible homes have done everything right. All it takes is one mistake -- maybe an asymptomatic staff member or an employee who did not use personal protective equipment properly -- for things to unravel.

"Think of how many different people you have working in a nursing home or health care organization that all have to be doing the right thing," Zalon said. "Maybe there's one or two people who didn't know they had COVID and they come to work ... and the whole thing falls apart."

At Allied Services, spokesman Jim Brogna said the home has taken extensive efforts to keep the virus at bay. He noted the home passed several special COVID-19 protocol inspections from the state Department of Health, including one last week. There also are factors that are out of the home's control.

That's the case with the most recent spike, he said, which the home determined started with a patient who apparently had a false negative COVID-19 test prior to being discharged from an area hospital.

Brogna said the hospital reported the patient's test was negative. The person was tested a few days later at Allied and the result was positive.

"I'm not blaming the hospital," he said. "If you find out the person was not negative, the damage is done. The virus is already in your facility."

Andrew Benson, a spokesman for Guardian Eldercare, which owns Birchwood Nursing home, said it also determined its surge in cases originated from a person outside the facility.

Benson said the home is taking aggressive steps to curb the spread of the virus, including seeking help from the state Department of Human Service's Regional Response Health Collaborative program, which provides a team of health care experts to assist homes with infection control and a variety of other areas.

Attempts to reach officials at the Gardens at Tunkhannock and the Pavilion at St. Luke Village were unsuccessful.

Contact the writer: tbesecker@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9137; @tmbeseckerTT on Twitter.

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