By Aaron Miller-
A Pennsylvania nursing home has decided to stop testing its staff for the coronavirus under the presumption that its entire resident population and whole staff may be infected with the coronavirus.
Brighton Rehabilitation and Wellness Center says its decision will help protect those who may come into contact with asymptomatic patients. The nursing home says it is now going to presume that all 450 residents and more than 300 staff “may be positive” for the disease because of the daily rise in positive tests fir the virus.
The care home says it is being more protective of asymptomatic staff and residents.” The nursing home stopped reporting new coronavirus cases last Thursday after 42 of the nursing home’s 450 patients had tested positive for the coronavirus, and three of them have died, according to CBS Pittsburgh, citing a union representing nursing home workers.
Under the new plans staff at Brighton Rehabilitation and Wellness Center will isolate and treat anybody exhibiting symptoms. The residential home is believed to have been reckless with safety measures since the outbreak of the coronavirus, with members of the public said to have been going in and out of the building without much restraint.
The decision to stop testing residents have angered some who believe it poses a danger to those who may not yet have the virus, but are vulnerable because of others who may infect them. Akeisha Williams, whose mother lives in the home, told The Eye Of Media.Com:
” I think it is sad that they are not testing everybody, especially as not all precautionary measures have been taken to protect those who live there. It is rather careless to assume everybody has the virus, how can they justify such an assumption without verifying it”?Earl Denbow Jr., 73, died last Wednesday after contracting. He had lived at Brighton Rehabilitation for two years after developing Parkinson’s and kidney disease.
A statement from the care home read:: ‘While some of our residents, families and staff have fears that are only natural when dealing with a pandemic that is not well understood and has reached our doorstep, there has been absolutely no mass exodus of staff.’
‘Upon consultation with the Department of Health, and consistent with practices of facilities on the cutting edge of prevention and treatment, we are beginning to shift away from counting test results, and presuming all staff and residents may be positive, while continuing to isolate and aggressively treat those who exhibit symptoms,’ Brighton Rehabilitation Centre wrote in the statement.
‘Thinking about the virus in this way allows us to be more protective of asymptomatic staff and residents.’