By CNN Newsource
Jacksonville Beach, Fla. A Florida woman and 15 of her friends tested positive for the coronavirus after having dinner at a restaurant in Jacksonville.
Erika Crisp, a healthcare worker, said after being stuck inside for months during the pandemic, she and her friends decided to have dinner at Lynch's IrishPub on June 6. She said she has been sick since.
"We were careless and we went out into a public place before we should have, and we weren't wearing masks," she said, adding that she believes reopening happened too soon.
Seven employees from Lynch's also have COVID-19, and the general manager shut down voluntarily last weekend for a deep cleaning.
On May 18, phase one of Florida's reopening planwent into full effect, and restaurants, malls, libraries and gyms were able to open at 50% capacity.
U.S. Rep. Susan Wild based her vote May 15 against a second coronavirus stimulus bill, the HEROES Act, on several factors: The $3 trillion package was crammed too full, it was being rushed through with too little time to digest it all and it was deemed DOA in the Senate.
It also served as a preemptive strike against a political challenge that would come into focus less than three weeks later.
On June 3, the day after Pennsylvanias primary election, Lisa Scheller claimed victory as the Republican nominee to challenge Wilds re-election bid in Pennsylvanias 7th Congressional District. Though her primary opponent, Dean Browning, had yet to concede, Scheller had moved on -- calling on Lehigh Valley Republicans "to re-elect President Trump and defeat the Nancy Pelosi puppet Susan Wild this November.
The vote on the HEROES Act, which is still before the Senate, was probably best example of how Im not a Nancy Pelosi puppet, Wild said Tuesday, referring to the Democratic speaker of the House from California.
"The speaker would have much preferred that I voted for the HEROES Act and I didn't because of concerns that I had about it," Wild said. "I have taken positions adverse to the speaker on plenty of occasions. I have no concerns about speaking my mind or taking my vote in whatever way I feel guided to do so."
With the Nov. 3 congressional race set for the PA-07 district covering Lehigh, Northampton and southern Monroe counties, Wild spoke Tuesday with lehighvalleylive.com for a look at her top issues, including ways she sees to begin addressing social justice issues raised by the Black Lives Matter movement and what's next in the fight against COVID-19.
In the coronavirus battle, Wild said that assuming positive cases continue to decline, the focus now must be on reopening the economy. She points to her intervention with Gov. Tom Wolf on behalf of Realtors frustrated because Pennsylvania was the only state not allowing in-person real estate work under mitigation strategies. Almost immediately after they talked, she said, he changed his position.
On Tuesday, she held a virtual roundtable discussion with Lehigh Valley restaurateurs looking to get back up and running, from pizzerias to high-end destinations: "I want to hear what their concerns are and the problems they need to have addressed."
On the social front, Wild sees an opportunity to shift some duties away from emergency departments and the criminal justice system in an area very close to her own life: mental health.
Wild is about 13 months removed from the suicide of her partner, 63-year-old Kerry Acker, in May 2019.
According to her office, she has legislation directing federal education and health officials to encourage colleges to develop suicide prevention plans, make the suicide of a loved one a qualifying event for family members to enroll in or change an insurance plan so they have mental health coverage, and also an amendment that was signed into law through the Older Americans Act reauthorization to make pre-screening for suicidal thoughts mandatory for seniors entering long-term care. Last week, she rolled out a new bill to create 24/7 mobile crisis units to respond to mental health threats at the county level, in addition to funding crisis call lines and long-term mental health care.
It's in that last area, through new mental health block grant funding, that she sees the potential for shifting some duties away from police. She cites the fatal shooting by police Friday in Atlanta of 27-year-old Black man Rayshard Brooks after he was found sleeping in a Wendy's drive-through. The killing drew widespread attention amid Black Lives Matter protests across the nation in the wake of the police homicide of George Floyd on May 25 in Minneapolis and countless other police killings of Black people in recent years.
Police can't be blamed for everything, Wild said. But taking a more holistic approach to a community's mental health needs might have led to a different outcome, had better trained professionals intervened with Brooks instead of armed police, she said.
"The loss of my partner was my impetus for going into this area," Wild said. "But I have to tell you, that as soon as I did I realized how neglected this field has been for so long. Every time I turn around something reminds us of that."
COVID-19 has also exposed the fragility of the nation's collective mental health, she noted, from families who might be confined to home with someone who's abusive, to the unemployed growing desperate to others seeing their "anxieties are off the charts, people that haven't previously sought mental health care," Wild said.
For Wild, serving in Congress "has saved me in the sense that it's given me real purpose and not only the ability but the need to put one step in front of the other and keep moving."
When she spoke about Ackers death on the House floor last June, she began to hear from others across the country who have attempted suicide or had loved ones who died by suicide.
"That provided me the opportunity to quickly pivot to what I like to do best, which is problem-solving," Wild said Tuesday. "I try to make a point of looking for where the problems are. That's kind of counterintuitive in your personal life -- you don't go looking for problems -- but in your congressional life you do."
Wild prides herself on her accessibility and availability to constituents, who might have (pre-coronavirus) visited her offices in hopes of seeing not just Wild but her miniature poodle, too. Zoey was voted Cutest Pet on Capitol Hill over Sen. Elizabeth Warrens Bailey in a 2019 Animal Health Institute contest.
"She's our chief morale officer," Wild said.
Wild has been in Congress since immediately after the 2018 election, when she was sworn-in to finish the term of retired U.S. Rep. Charlie Dent, the moderate Republican who represented Lehigh Valley communities in Pennsylvania's old 15th Congressional District.
Working with the Republican administration, Wild said she has seen successes and frustration. On the positive side, she worked to get protections against pharmaceutical monopolies included in the United States-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement hailed by Trump as one of his top achievements. She also had two bills signed into law through the first coronavirus stimulus bill, the CARES Act, both to support seniors -- one regarding meal delivery and one regarding in-home care.
Her main frustration with the administration comes when they lock down witnesses, such as refusing to schedule or postponing at the last minute appearances by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo before the House Foreign Affairs Committee to discuss his department's budget. She also believes the government's response to the pandemic would have gone more smoothly if some of the myriad vacant positions were filled.
"The slash-and-burn approach to government agencies and staffing has not served us well in COVID at all," Wild said.
Looking ahead, Wild said she is running for a second term because serving in Congress isn't about quick victories, but about "setting building blocks for future legislation and I feel like in the last two years I've done a lot of that groundwork and I want to keep working on these same issues and actually seeing them come to some sort of conclusion ... ."
And she said she has more listening to constituents to do on priorities like public school funding, universal pre-K and increasing higher education opportunities like apprenticeship training.
To me the job is as much about being there and listening and taking action as it is anything else, Wild said. You could negotiate the greatest peace deal in the Middle East and if youre not doing the work back home for the people who vote for you or dont vote for you, all the people in your district, youre failing them. Thats where I really feel my strength has been.
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Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com.
Recent developments:
Quebec's indoor sports venueswill be allowed to reopen Mondayfor participants who follow distancing and hygiene rules, forcing certain sports to change their rules. Beaches in the province can reopen that same day.
CBC News has learned the federal government will give a financial update July 8, after skipping the traditional spring budget.
Some parents and teachers have concerns about Quebec's plan to return more students to the classroom in September.
WATCH: Staff at threenational museums agree to unpaid leave
There have been 2,036 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ottawa and 260 deaths caused by the respiratory illness.
Experts estimateone per cent of the city's population, or about 10,000 people, have contracted COVID-19, but the majority of cases were undiagnosed.
There are3,250 known cases across eastern Ontario and western Quebec.
Nearly 2,700 people in the region have recovered from COVID-19.
COVID-19 has killed 101 people outside Ottawa: 52 in Leeds, Grenville and Lanark counties, 17 in other parts of eastern Ontario and 32 in the Outaouais.
Eastern Ontario entered "Stage 2" of the province's recovery plan on June 12, allowing "circles" of up to 10 people who don't have to distance as long as they limit close contact to that group.
Quebec is allowing individual activities rather than focusing on stages. It too has different restrictions for different regions and plans to allow indoor, distanced gatherings of up to 50 people next week.
The Ottawa Farmers' Market says it will no longer require shoppers to preregisterstarting this Sunday at Lansdowne Park. Market organizers encouragecustomers to pre-order, and say they will limit crowds.
Kingston starts closing parts of some downtown streets next week to offer more space for businesses and pedestrians.
Ontario Parks says it's ready to begin opening some campsites and services starting next week.
Post-secondary schools are moving toward more online classes this fall, with Ontario promising a fall plan for younger students by July.
The coronavirus primarily spreads through droplets when an infected person coughs or sneezes. People don't need to have symptoms to be contagious.
That means physical distancing measures such as working from home and in Ontario, staying at least two metres away from anyone they don't live with or have in their circle.
Children in Quebec can now be one metre apart at school and day camps. Starting next week, all Quebecers can be within 1.5 metres of each other while seated at indoor venues such as theatres.
Ottawa Public Health now wants people to think about how to safely do certain things and recommends people wear a fabric or non-medical mask when they can't always stay two metres from strangers, such as at a grocery store.
Anyone who has symptoms or travelled recently outside Canada must self-isolate for at least 14 days.
Specifically in Ottawa, anyone waiting for a COVID-19 test result must self-isolate at least until they know the result.
The same goes for anyone in Ontario who's been in contact with someone who's tested positive or is presumed to have COVID-19.
People 70 and older or with compromised immune systems or underlying health conditions should also self-isolate.
COVID-19 can range from a cold-like illness to a severe lung infection, with common symptoms including fever, a dry cough, vomiting and the loss of taste or smell.
Less common symptoms include chills, headaches and pink eye. The Ontario government says in rare cases, children can develop a rash.
If you have severe symptoms, call 911.
In eastern Ontario:
In Ottawa any resident who feels they need a test, even if they are not showing symptoms, can now be tested at one of three sites.
Inuit in Ottawa can call the Akausivik Inuit Family Health Team at 613-740-0999 for service, including testing, in Inuktitut or English on weekdays.
Testing has also expanded for local residents and employees who work in the Eastern Ontario Health Unit area.
There is a drive-thru test centre in Casselman and assessment centres in Hawkesbury and Winchester that don't require people to call ahead.
Others in Rockland and Cornwall require an appointment.
In Kingston, the assessment centre at the Kingston Memorial Centre is open seven days a week for walk-ins. Napanee's test centre is open daily for people who call for an appointment.
WATCH: Summing up ride-hailing changes
The Leeds, Grenville and Lanark unit asks you to get tested if you have a symptom or concerns about exposure.
It has a walk-in site in Brockville open seven days a week at the Memorial Centre and testing sites in Smiths Falls and Almonte which require an appointment.
The public health unit in the Belleville area is asking people to call it, their family doctor or Telehealth if they have symptoms or questions.
You can arrange a test in Bancroft, Belleville or Trenton by calling the centre, or in Picton by texting or calling 613-813-6864.
There are weekly pop-up clinics in other communities and you may also qualify for a home test.
WATCH: A new survey on mental health and COVID-19
Renfrew County is also providing pop-up and home testing under some circumstances. Residents without access to a family doctor can call 1-844-727-6404 if they have health questions, COVID-19-related or not.
If you're concerned about the coronavirus, take the self-assessment.
In western Quebec:
Outaouais residents should call 1-877 644-4545 if they have symptoms for further assistance.
First Nations:
Local communities have declared states of emergency, put in a curfew or both.
Akwesasne has opened a mobile COVID-19 test site available by appointment only. Anyone returning to Akwesasne who's been farther than 80 kilometres away is asked to self-isolate for 14 days.
Anyone in Tyendinaga who's interested in a test can call 613-967-3603 to talk to a nurse.
Pikwakanagan's council let businesses reopen May 29 and is not running checkpoints at entrances during the day. It has a pop-up testing clinicWednesday, by appointment.
We're making coronavirus coverage available without a subscription as a public service. But we depend on reader support to do this work. Please consider joining others in supporting local journalism in Alaska for just $3.23 a week.
Alaska officials say its taking longer than they had hoped to process COVID-19 tests obtained at airports meaning travelers may be having to quarantine longer than planned while they wait for results.
The new state policy that went into effect this month allows passengers traveling to Alaska to forgo a 14-day quarantine if they test negative for COVID-19. One way to comply with the policy is to get a test at the airport upon landing and quarantine until a negative test result comes back.
Just before the policy went into effect, Heidi Hedberg, director of Alaskas Division of Public Health, predicted in a press briefing that the typical wait time for getting results from tests conducted at an Alaska airport should be about two days.
She said, "It could take longer than 48 hours, and thats just managing expectations.
So far, the wait time for many travelers has been longer.
Courtney Bailly, 26, flew into Anchorage late last Tuesday for a summer job as a gymnastics instructor. She said that while the process of getting tested at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport went smoothly, she didnt receive notice of her negative test result until the following Monday six days later.
It was pretty frustrating, she said, explaining that her work start date ended up getting postponed.
Because weve been testing so many people, the state labs have a lot to process, and we are taking about three to five days to get those results back, said Micky Boyer, operations manager at Capstone Family Medicine. The state has contracted with Capstone to conduct the airport testing.
"I dont think its realistic to consider it taking less time than that any time soon, Boyer said.
The delay has to do with challenges related to electronic communication, according to Bernd Jilly, chief doctor at a state lab in Anchorage that is responsible for processing hundreds of tests per day.
Weve been processing tests faster than we could transit those results back to the airport, he explained.
While the actual processing of tests can, in fact, happen within two days, communicating with Capstone and the patients isnt as speedy, he said.
Having one computer talk to another computer is harder than you think, he said.
Jilly said he and his team, along with Capstone Clinic, are working diligently to refine our technique and work out better methods for reporting. He said he hopes that within a few weeks, the wait times will get shorter.
We do empathize with people who are waiting on their results," he added, and were plugging away, doing the best we can.
Bob McDonald, 78, from Las Vegas, has been taking an annual weeklong fishing trip to Alaska every August for the past 20 years. He said hes worried hell have to cancel his trip if wait times stay the same. Quarantining for five days out of a six-day trip just doesnt make sense.
His other option, as outlined by the state, is to get tested within 72 hours of departure, and then present that negative test result upon arrival in Alaska. But McDonald says this option isnt doable for him, either.
Ive checked with different labs here, McDonald said. No doctor he talked to could promise results within 72 hours, and very few were testing patients without COVID-19 symptoms, he said.
McDonald said hes carefully following the news in Alaska to see if any more travel policy changes happen between now and his trip.
Im hoping they eliminate the testing altogether, he said.
[Because of a high volume of comments requiring moderation, we are temporarily disabling comments on many of our articles so editors can focus on the coronavirus crisis and other coverage. We invite you to write a letter to the editor or reach out directly if youd like to communicate with us about a particular article. Thanks.]
Local attorneys general have sent letters to Apple and Google, trying to protect privacy and personal information in contact tracing apps, which claim to aid in the fight against the spread of COVID-19.
An important aspect of trying to reduce the spread of COVID-19 is contact tracing working backward to determine who people infected with the coronavirus have been around, and where theyve been.
However, local attorneys general are concerned a tool that helps facilitate contract tracing can put your personal information at risk.
Contact tracing apps can be extremely protective of your health, and other peoples health, but make sure theyre from a trusted source, said Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh.
He, and his counterparts from Virginia and the District of Columbia, are among the AGs who sent letters to the CEOs of Apple and Google, asking they ensure contact tracing and exposure notification tools be affiliated with a local, state, or federal public health authority.
Folks who are running the apps that youre downloading are getting all kinds of information about you that you assume is going to remain private, said Frosh. Where you are, who youre talking to, what youre doing.
While the information is valuable to legitimate public health authorities, including hospitals and universities providing data to the public health effort, unverified apps many of them free are only interested in learning and profiting from your private information.
You are the product, warned Frosh. Thats what theyre selling.
In the letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google CEO Sundar Pichai, the attorneys general said while digital tracing is valuable, such technology also poses a risk to consumers personally identifiable information, including sensitive health information, that could continue long after the present public health emergency ends.
In addition to verifying that the tracing apps are linked with a legitimate public health authority, the letter requests COVID-19 tracing apps be removed from the App Store and Google Play once the COVID-19 national emergency ends.
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After another day with no new deaths from COVID-19, B.C. Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry is reminding the public that it is still necessary to avoid crowds and take other measures against the spread of the disease.
On Tuesday, Henry announced that B.C. has confirmed 11 new cases of COVID-19, including 10 new test-positive cases and one that has been epidemiologically linked to previous cases. The province has had2,756 cases to date.
Right now, there are 172 active cases of the virus, of which 11 are in hospital, including five in intensive care. A total of 2,416 people have recovered from their illness.
No new deaths have been reported, leaving the total to date at 168.
Henry said that while businesses are gradually beginning to reopen, it's important to take this stage of the pandemic response one step at a time.
"We are being thoughtful and measured in our response and we are adapting as we go," she said.
Crowds continue to be out of the question for the foreseeable future, Henry added.
"We will have the opportunity to do these things again, but just not now," she said. "It only takes one person in a crowded setting to spread it to many others."
Tuesday's update included one new outbreak in a long-term care home, bringing the number of active outbreaks in these facilities to five.
Meanwhile, Henry weighed in on a local political controversy in Vancouver whether to fully reopen Stanley Park to vehicle traffic.
She called the current restriction on cars to allow room for walking and cycling "a really good thing" that has given people a way to get outside and be active during the pandemic.
"I personally would be in favour of keeping it that way and reducing the number of cars on our roads and making our cities more amenable to active transport," Henry said.
Also Tuesday,Health Minister Adrian Dix gave an update on the province's supply of personal protective equipment (PPE).
Since the start of the pandemic, B.C. has acquired5.5 million N95 respirators, twomillion eye protection pieces, 40 million pairs of gloves and twomillion gowns.
He said that while B.C. had a stockpile of this equipment before COVID-19 hit the province,it's clear now it wasn't enough. For example, at the height of the pandemic here,12,000 N95 respirators were being used every day, compared to 1,800 a day before COVID-19.
"We've definitely learned from our experience," he said. "We need to stock up."
Dix added that a PPE testing laboratory is being established in Vancouver to help with that process.
Watch | Health Minister Adrian Dix outlines the state of B.C.'s PPE stockpile:
Henry also addressed a new outbreak of the disease in Beijing, as well as the introduction of new cases to New Zealand days after it was declared free of COVID-19.
"It just goes to show what we have been saying all along: once this virus is anywhere, it's a risk everywhere," Henry said.
She explained that those examples show why B.C. needs to track every case of COVID-19 carefully.
"We've managed to flatten our curve but we cannot get rid of this virus when we still have people moving back and forth," she said.
Henry and Dix have said they are closely monitoring infections as the province rolls out its COVID-19 restart plan, which has allowed restaurants and personal service establishments to reopenunder new guidelines.
EarlierTuesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced an eight-week extension to the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB).
The $2,000-per-monthstipend, which started in mid-March,was originally set to last 16 weeks.
The prime ministeralso extended theCanada-U.S. border closure by another 30 days, keeping itin place until late July.
If you have a COVID-19-related story we should pursue that affects British Columbians, please email us at impact@cbc.ca.
Hannah cant stop vomiting. The 22-year-old has Ehlers-Danlos syndromes, a complex disability that means she has intestinal failure and uses a feeding tube and now has a blockage in her bowel. Surgery is her only option, but shes been told shell have to wait eight months to have it because the NHS is focused on the coronavirus pandemic. Hannah has already been on the surgery waiting list for nine months and her condition is worsening: shes in severe pain and is vomiting most days as she increasingly cant keep food down.
Hannah doesnt blame her doctors. If you had two fires and one consumed a detached house, and the other was rampaging through a packed terrace, and you had limited resources, what would you choose? she says. But she is extremely disillusioned with the government for leaving patients like her stranded during the pandemic.
If Hannah doesnt have the surgery soon, she tells me, her bowel could rupture. I fear that many people in my position will die due to a shortfall in care.
This is Britains second public health emergency: the crisis that is quietly threatening lives alongside coronavirus. The government has spent recent weeks boasting that they have managed to protect the NHS during the pandemic, but what theyve really done is shut it down. Almost two-thirds of Britons with common life-threatening conditions have been denied care by the NHS because hospitals have focused on fighting Covid-19. Thats people with breathing problems, high blood pressure and cancer.
Tens of thousands of non-urgent surgeries have been cancelled in recent months to free up space for coronavirus patients, while many diagnostic tests and outpatient appointments are on hold. Screening services for cancer have been formally paused in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and are de facto suspended in England. NHS leaders say the waiting list for hospital treatment in England could soar to almost 10 million people by Christmas due to the huge backlog caused by coronavirus disrupting services. Thats double the current figure.
This comes on top of patients who have voluntarily stayed away; there was such concern about empty A&E wards during the height of lockdown that the government set up a campaign in April to encourage people with suspected strokes and heart attacks to still seek help.
The long-term consequences of reduced healthcare during the pandemic are reminiscent of an unexploded bomb, slowly waiting to go off. Greater health problems are being stored for the future, as individuals watch their chronic conditions worsen. In the worst cases, their lives are at risk. Doctors have warned of the likelihood of a dramatic rise in bowel cancer cases in Britain in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. The effective halt to screening in March is predicted to lead to thousands of people dying early from the disease. One man with cancer told the Guardian last week that he is now fighting for his life because the pandemic meant he had to wait months for a scan. Sherwin Hall now has a tumour measuring 14cm in his pelvis and 30 small tumours in his lungs. He is 27.
The NHS was always in a deeply difficult situation. Many of the cancellations in recent months were intended to stop patients catching coronavirus by coming into hospitals. Staff had to be freed to help tackle the pandemic. The need for social distancing as well as shortages in PPE have also added further problems to the pile. But after years of being starved of funding, the NHS was in a precarious position to begin with. NHS England was short of about 40,000 nurses even before staff were spread thinner to cope with coronavirus; many patients were already waiting up to a year for treatment. Tackling a pandemic after a decade of cuts was the equivalent of being asked to fight with one hand behind its back.
This is a crisis for people who have become sick during the pandemic but also for those who had health problems before. Overall barely one in five of those who regularly receive NHS help for a long-term health condition were able to have a planned treatment in April. Meanwhile, new ONS research into shielding this week shows two in five report being unable to access certain types of care such as tests and scans - while 10% are unable to access any care at all. It is the worst of ironies: the rightful rush to protect people from coronavirus has simply put their health at risk in another way.
A few days ago, Hannah got a call from the treatment decision team: her case has been escalated for consideration. If it is reclassified, she will get her surgery sooner. If not, she stays on the eight-month waiting list. The pain is unbearable, she says. And the only thing that will stop it is the operation.
Frances Ryan is a Guardian columnist
Paramedics from the San Antonio Fire Department set up swabbing stations in a suburban nursing home's parking lot as part of the massive state intervention to stop the spread of infections in Texas nursing homes. John Burnett/NPR hide caption
Paramedics from the San Antonio Fire Department set up swabbing stations in a suburban nursing home's parking lot as part of the massive state intervention to stop the spread of infections in Texas nursing homes.
Some of the worst coronavirus outbreaks have occurred at long-term care facilities that now account for more than one-third of all COVID-19 deaths in America. Some states have taken aggressive actions to slow the spread of the virus among residents and workers in nursing homes. Texas formed a strike force to assess problems at its 1,222 nursing homes.
On a bright South Texas morning in the parking lot of a suburban nursing home, paramedics from the San Antonio Fire Department were setting up swabbing stations and donning periwinkle-blue protective gowns. They were part of the massive state intervention to stop infection from spreading in nursing homes. Municipal and Texas State Guard medics have fanned out to test more than 250,000 residents, as well as staff, for the coronavirus.
"OK, guys, so we got 260 swabs we're gonna do here today. It's 200 staff and 60 residents. We got y'all divided up in your teams already," shouted paramedic Lt. Travis Hopp. "Be safe, take care of each other, and stay clean."
Their work is critical. In Texas, 47% of the state's nearly 1,900 COVID-19 deaths have been tied to skilled nursing and assisted living facilities an even greater proportion than national COVID-19 fatality figures.
"Right now we're focused on licensed nursing facilities. We've seen extremely high mortality rates and that's a very vulnerable population," said Eric Epley, executive director of Southwest Texas Regional Advisory Council, who is coordinating the statewide paramedic teams.
As the public health crisis that began in winter enters the summer months, why is the virus still running rampant through nursing homes?
The fundamentals of infection control are well known by now: frequent hand-washing, wearing masks, social distancing, donning protective gear and disposing of it properly, and isolating sick people.
A swabbing team enters a San Antonio nursing home to test residents for the coronavirus. In Texas, 47% of the state's nearly 1,900 COVID-19 deaths have been tied to skilled nursing and assisted living facilities. John Burnett/NPR hide caption
A swabbing team enters a San Antonio nursing home to test residents for the coronavirus. In Texas, 47% of the state's nearly 1,900 COVID-19 deaths have been tied to skilled nursing and assisted living facilities.
"Let me tell you, some of this stuff is really basic and I don't understand why they're not getting it," said Kevin Dinnin, president of BCFS. The nonprofit emergency provider of health and human services is part of the Texas Quick Reaction Force for nursing homes. BCFS medical teams have completely taken over operations at six Texas nursing homes where a third to a half of the population contracted COVID-19 and staffers were too afraid to come back to work.
Dinnin has a picture on his phone of a nurse's aide without a mask standing in the hallway of an East Texas facility, and directly behind her is an elderly resident who is COVID-19 positive.
What's alarming, he said, is that staffers are contracting the sickness, they don't know they have it, and they're likely infecting residents.
"And they're moving room to room to room with close patient contact," Dinnin continued. "Certainly, if they're not wearing any mask at all to protect others from them there's a good chance they're shedding the virus and they're exposing those high-risk patients to the virus."
His chief of operations, Todd Gates, has been working inside nursing home hot zones in Texas for weeks.
"They [nursing home administrators] are acting generally out of ignorance because they just don't know what they're doing is wrong," Gates said.
Dinnin said guidance on infection control from state and federal health care authorities "is too complex and it needs to be simpler and easier to understand."
The nursing home industry has generally blamed its coronavirus crisis on the early scarcity of masks and other protective equipment and the lack of testing. Moreover, they say, older adults are especially vulnerable, and no one saw this virulent disease coming.
But infection control has been a perennial problem well before 2020.
"I think there's always room to look at infection control protocols and how do we improve the process," says Kevin Warren, president of the Texas Health Care Association. "And how do we learn from this moving forward so that if and when something like this happens again, we don't have concerns like this." John Burnett/NPR hide caption
"I think there's always room to look at infection control protocols and how do we improve the process," says Kevin Warren, president of the Texas Health Care Association. "And how do we learn from this moving forward so that if and when something like this happens again, we don't have concerns like this."
Nursing homes throughout America have fallen short for years, according to a report released last month by the federal Government Accountability Office.
"We found that a number of nursing homes had deficiencies in their infection prevention and control efforts and that these deficiencies unfortunately were widespread across most nursing homes," said John Dickin, director of GAO's health care team, on an agency podcast.
The GAO report found that 82% of America's nursing homes got at least one deficiency in infection control between 2013 and 2017. And about half of the homes "had persistent problems and were cited across multiple years."
Texas with more than 1,200 nursing homes is always a trouble spot.
"This is a long-standing problem, particularly in Texas, with basic infection control practices," said Patty Ducayet, the long-term care ombudsman for Texas.
Federal and state inspections show that Texas nursing homes have among the most citations for infection deficiencies in the country and that infection prevention is the No. 1 problem in the state.
Ducayet said nursing homes conduct emergency planning, and infectious disease epidemics are supposed to be part of that.
San Antonio paramedics don protective equipment in preparation to enter a nursing home and test residents and staff for the coronavirus. John Burnett/NPR hide caption
San Antonio paramedics don protective equipment in preparation to enter a nursing home and test residents and staff for the coronavirus.
"Without a doubt," she said, "nursing homes could have been better prepared for this."
In their defense, a nursing home trade association said its members have taken stringent measures to stop the spread, such as canceling family visits and eliminating communal activities such as dining and bingo.
"I think there's always room to look at infection control protocols and how do we improve the process," said Kevin Warren, president of the Texas Health Care Association. "And how do we learn from this moving forward so that if and when something like this happens again, we don't have concerns like this."
The Texas Health and Human Services Commission, which regulates skilled nursing facilities, said it has conducted hundreds of on-site inspections over the past two months because of the coronavirus crisis. Now the agency is ratcheting up the response.
Last week, HHSC announced that in light of continuing serious problems with the coronavirus in nursing homes it has created Special Infection Control Assessment teams. They will visit troubled facilities throughout the state to review their practices and provide immediate guidance in an attempt to prevent further outbreaks of COVID-19.
A vehicle arrives at a testing site for the coronavirus last month at Steele Indian School Park in Phoenix. Arizona has seen a surge of new coronavirus cases recently. Matt York/AP hide caption
A vehicle arrives at a testing site for the coronavirus last month at Steele Indian School Park in Phoenix. Arizona has seen a surge of new coronavirus cases recently.
With new daily coronavirus cases rising in at least two dozen states, an explosion of new infections in Arizona is stretching some hospitals and alarming public health experts who link the surge in cases to the state's lifting of a stay-at-home order close to a month ago.
Arizona has emerged as one of the country's newest coronavirus hot spots, with the weekly average of daily cases nearly tripling from two weeks ago. The number of people hospitalized is climbing, too.
Over the past week, Arizona has seen an average of more than 1,300 new COVID-19 cases each day.
After the state's largest hospital system warned about a shortage of intensive care unit beds, Gov. Doug Ducey, a Republican, pushed back on assertions that the health care system could soon be overwhelmed.
"The entire time we've been focused on a possible worst-case scenario with surge capacity for hospital beds, ICU beds and ventilators," Ducey told reporters Thursday. "Those are not needed or necessary right now."
While he acknowledged a spike in positive cases, Ducey said a second stay-at-home order was "not under discussion."
"We put the stay-at-home order there so we could prepare for what we are going through," he said.
Some states have reopened more slowly with a set of specific benchmarks for different regions, but Arizona took a more aggressive approach.
The state began easing restrictions on businesses in early May and lifted its statewide lockdown order after May 15. Under Arizona's reopening plan, businesses are advised to follow federal guidance on social distancing.
There is also no requirement for everyone to wear masks in public.
Public health experts agree: The timing of this spike reflects the state's reopening.
"Perhaps Arizona will be a warning sign to other areas," said Katherine Ellingson, an epidemiologist at the University of Arizona. "We never had that consistent downward trend that would signal it's time to reopen and we have everything in place to do it safely."
Before Arizona lifted its stay-at-home order, about 5% of tests for the coronavirus registered as positive. Two weeks later, that number was around 12%.
A slower reopening gives public health agencies time to identify whether or not cases are rising and then respond with contact tracing and isolating those who are infected.
"With a fast, rapid reopening, we don't have the time to mobilize those resources," Ellingson said.
Maricopa County, home to about 60% of the state's population, has ramped up contact tracing in recent weeks, but it may not have enough capacity if the surge in cases continues.
Dr. Peter Hotez said the spike in Arizona, as well as parts of Texas such as Houston, Dallas and Austin, is the consequence of removing restrictions too quickly and without a public health system that can keep pace.
"It was just open it up and then more or less business as usual, with a little bit of window dressing," said Hotez, dean for the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine. "This is not an abstract number of cases. We're seeing people pile into intensive care units."
Arizona's governor has also faced criticism from the mayors of the state's two biggest cities for not putting in place more stringent requirements.
"There is a pandemic, and it's spreading uncontrollably," said Tucson Mayor Regina Romero, a Democrat. Ducey, she said, "is just putting up his hands and saying, 'The spread is happening, and we just have to go about our business.' "
Adding to Romero's frustration, the governor's executive order forbids local governments from implementing their own extra measures.
"What he did was pretty much tie the hands of mayors and public health officials," Romero said.
Arizona's hospital industry has tried to tamp down fears that it's on the verge of a crisis. Hospitals are still performing elective surgeries.
"It's very unfortunate because hospitals right now in Arizona are quite busy with elective procedures," said Saskia Popescu, a Phoenix-based epidemiologist with George Mason University. "You throw in increasing cases of COVID, and that's going to very much stress your hospital systems."
Phoenix's triple-digit summer temperatures may help fuel the spread of the virus as well. People forgo outdoor activities and retreat to air-conditioned indoor spaces, where the risk of transmitting the virus goes up significantly.
"My concern is we're going to see a lot more people in close quarters for prolonged periods of time," she said.
Since the stay-at-home order was lifted, Popescu and others said they've seen people returning to a pre-pandemic mindset, neglecting to wear masks or maintain social distance. Videos of crowded bars have only propelled these fears.
On Thursday, however, Arizona's top doctor stressed there were also dangers to keeping the state on lockdown, including the mental health effects of loneliness and isolation.
"We know that it's in the community. We are not going to be able to stop the spread. And so we can't stop living as well," said Dr. Cara Christ, health director for the Arizona Department of Health Services.
But Quinn Snyder, an emergency medicine physician in Mesa, Ariz., said there needs to be more consistent messaging on public health measures such as wearing masks.
"Frankly, I just think a wholesale reevaluation of where we're at is critical right now, but I can tell you that we're not doing nearly enough," said Snyder, who has seen the uptick in seriously ill COVID-19 patients firsthand.
"If we continue to head down this path, the virus will press our health care facilities beyond capacity, where we're going to have to be making tough decisions like who gets a ventilator and who doesn't."
HARRIS COUNTY (CBSNEWS.COM) Houston opened to 75% capacity on Friday, but it may not last long. Officials are cautioning that they may need to order people back home and open a COVID-19 hospital at NRG Stadium as coronavirus cases surge in the nations fourth-largest city.
Im growing increasingly concerned that we may be approaching the precipice the precipice of a disaster, said Lina Hidalgo, the Harris County judge who is the top official for the countys five million residents.
A server wearing a facemask and gloves rings up an order at Eight Row Flint in Houston, Texas, on May 22, 2020. (credit: Mark Felix/ AFP via Getty Images)
Hidalgos warning comes amid a record week for virus cases and hospitalizations in the Houston area and across Texas, which marked the outbreaks by reopening restaurants to three-quarters of their capacity.
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