ManorCare in Montgomery Township.
A mass test at a Montgomeryville nursing home has revealed that more than half of its residents are positive for the COVID-19 coronavirus.
ManorCare, located along the 600 block Bethlehem Pike, reported 85 positive COVID-19 cases among its residents, according to a ManorCare official who was reached by phone on Wednesday afternoon. No figures were provided regarding testing among the staff at the Montgomeryville facility.
After several positive cases were diagnosed earlier this month, ManorCare Montgomeryville proceeded to test the entire residential population. Officials said that some of the positive cases are currently asymptomatic, and they would not comment on if any deaths had occurred. They added that ManorCare is following all federal and state health guidelines during the pandemic.
ManorCare Montgomeryville has a maximum capacity of 155 residents, a
ccording to Medicare nursing-home statistics.
The availability of detailed data and information from nursing and long term care facilities has become a sticking point over recent weeks, especially for family members of nursing home residents. While Montgomery County has been releasing non-identifiable aggregate information about infection rates and fatalities at nursing homes,
State Rep. Todd Stephens (R-Montgomery) is introducing legislation requiring the public release of site-specific data at long-term care facilities.
“The coronavirus has severely impacted the senior population
in Pennsylvania, and that impact is clear from the data
surrounding positive cases and deaths associated with long-term care
facilities,” Stephens said. “Facility-specific data is already being collected,
but the Health Department currently only publishes data by county, not
facility. Under my legislation, concerned family members will have the
data showing the extent of the coronavirus’s spread in each long-term
facility.”
ManorCare is far from the only long-term care facility to be
severely impacted by the pandemic. Montgomery County currently has 75 nursing homes and long-term care facilities, and at least two-thirds have reported at least one case of COVID-19 in either their residents or staff.
As of Wednesday afternoon, county officials reported 780 positive cases among long-term care residents and another 383 cases among staff members. Additionally, 101 of Montgomery County’s 174 coronavirus deaths have come from residents of long-term care facilities and nursing homes, excluding deaths probably attributable to COVID-19 but not tested.
And the Montgomeryville facility is not the only location in the ManorCare network to bear the brunt of the virus.
The Allentown Morning Call reported Wednesday that ManorCare has reported nearly 100 cases and an "unspecified” number of deaths at three of its Lehigh Valley facilities.
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