183 COVID deaths in long-term facilities

The Chester County Coroner's Office reported May 7 that there were 183 COVID-19 -related deaths in long-term care facilities in the county. Those figures cover a time frame of March 28 through May 6.

According to the Chester County Health Department website, there are 75 licensed long-term care and personal care homes in the county, with 30 — or 40 percent —recorded as having an outbreak, defined as at least one positive case, at this time. Another 24 Chester County facilities have reported one or more COVID-19 deaths to the coroner's office. Another five of those facilities — plus one nearby Montgomery County facility — have had 10 or more residents die of confirmed or probable COVID-19.

Of the facilities named in the press release, Brandywine Hall in West Chester had 24 COVID fatalities, and Barclay Friends, also in West Chester, had 14.

"Long-term care facilities take care of elderly persons with advanced lung, heart, neurological, and other diseases," said Chester County Coroner Dr. Christina VandePol. "I believe the staff at these facilities has been doing the best they can while struggling with a lack of resources, including nurses, PPE, COVID-19 tests, and space. As discussed at a State Senate Hearing yesterday, the vulnerability of nursing homes wasn't recognized early on when the focus was on hospital preparedness. We need to support these facilities now, and just as importantly, we need to re-imagine what long-term care needs to look like in the future."

About CFLive Staff

See Contributors Page https://chaddsfordlive.com/writers/

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
Loading...

Comments

comments

Leave a Reply