In Florida, Gimenez leads as DeSantis lags and demands COVID-19 nursing-home data | Editorial
Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez has had enough of the state’s slack disclosures, secrecy and flawed nursing-home data on the coronavirus that it has sluggishly released, and he’s demanding more accountability.
This should bring some comfort and, more important, reliable information to families with relatives nursing homes and assisted-living facilities.
The state of Florida has cruelly kept them in the dark, as it tries to put a smiley-face on its inconsistent response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Getting a grasp of how the coronavirus pandemic has attacked Florida’s nursing homes has been more difficult than finding an N95 mask.
Shameful.
Skimpy details
Claiming patient privacy, the state has kept nursing-home records under wraps, only incrementally releasing information, and only under pressure. It took the threat of legal action from multiple media outlets, led by the Miami Herald, to force the state and Gov. Ron DeSantis to release the barest details about the impact COVID-19 is having on the elderly residents at these facilities.
Only skimpy details have been released, calling up more questions than answers as even nursing homes across the state complained that the data was outdated or inaccurate. The state has now started to list only current positive cases. But that does not offer a full picture.
On Wednesday more records were released, but the state’s top medical examiner called them a “sham.”
Gimenez, who, along with other local South Florida leaders, has been out in front in protecting residents, is the first in the state to order nursing homes and assisted-living facilities in a county to disclose COVID-19 cases and deaths among residents and employees directly to the county, every day.
He also wants to know all prior COVID-19 deaths at the facilities, as well as a running tally of cases among residents and staff. The county is also asking for the number of people living at the facilities with the virus and dates for the last time employees with the virus were last at work.
Protect workers, too
The mayor should also demand that facilities provide protective gear to its workers, something that has been lacking at too many. Thanks to the mayor, at least Miami-Dade will have a clearer picture of what is happening inside nursing homes. And figures culled from the nursing homes should be made available to the public in a timely fashion. Relatives have the right to know if their loved ones are in peril.
DeSantis should be so rigorous, and caring.
While Miami-Dade’s records requests exceed what Florida makes public about COVID-19 and nursing homes, they fall short of the data the state collects daily but does not release to the public.
That includes the number of staff and residents who have been tested for the coronavirus in each facility, information that could help determine how well the facility has done in preventing the disease through asymptomatic carriers. These are the types of records the media outlets are seeking.
The onus now falls on Miami-Dade’s nursing homes and assisted-living facilities to report the numbers requested accurately. Daily reports may seem excessive, but after such lax monitoring, they are necessary to offer medical experts a clear picture of the extent of the coronavirus damage in these vulnerable places and also offer better guidance on how quickly the county should reopen.