NEW ORLEANS — As COVID-19 cases and deaths have mounted at Louisiana nursing homes, people – including residents and their loved ones – have been kept in the dark for six weeks about where and how many.
“Early on we were reporting cases in nursing homes by name of the individual facility but that became increasingly difficult as cases increased,” Gov. John Bel Edwards explained at his daily news conference Monday.
That silence ended as the state Department of Health resumed publishing a list of individual nursing homes, breaking down the number of positive cases and deaths among residents and, for the first time, infections among staff.
The list published Monday shows that more than 60 percent of the state's nursing facilities have recorded at least one positive case. Four of the eight nursing homes with more than 20 deaths are in the New Orleans area.
They are Forest Manor in St. Tammany with 33 deaths, the Southeastern Veterans Home in St. John with 28 deaths, and Metairie Healthcare and Wynhoven in Jefferson Parish with 26 and 21 deaths respectively.
One of the first nursing homes to get slammed, Lambeth House in New Orleans, was not listed with more than 20 deaths because of how the home is structured.
The state’s list shows 14 deaths at Lambeth’s nursing home wing, St. Anna’s, while through coroner’s office records, WWL-TV has independently confirmed at least seven additional deaths in the home’s larger independent living wing.
Lambeth House was in the national news for its early outbreak and the death there of legendary New Orleans Saints placekicker Tom Dempsey, who once held the record for the longest field goal ever – 63 yards – a record that would stand for 43 years. Dempsey, 73, was under nursing care for Alzheimer’s disease.
Louisiana AARP Director Denise Bottcher has been among those pushing for the information on individual nursing homes.
“We felt that it was paramount that families certainly know which facilities have designated cases,” she said. “And more broadly, the public and the community needs to be aware.”
Bottcher said the information will help the public assist homes that need it.
“That's because the community can respond. The community can help provide PPE for example. Or can provide support in other ways,” she said.
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