LOCAL

73% of Steuben County coronavirus deaths linked to nursing homes

Ashley Biviano
Elmira Star-Gazette

Steuben County officials said about 73% of the county's 33 confirmed deaths related to the coronavirus have been linked to nursing homes.

Steuben confirmed six deaths at Hornell Gardens, but did not say if more deaths could have occurred at the home, and the county did not release data on possible fatalities at the other homes in the county, Elderwood and Ira Davenport Memorial Hospital SNF/HRF.

The six deaths at Hornell Gardens also calls into question how the facility has been reporting its coronavirus data, and also how New York State translates the data it has been releasing periodically since April 17.

Steuben Public Health Director Darlene Smith said mass coronavirus testing was conducted at the three nursing homes deemed hot spots for COVID-19.

Smith said 24 of the county's deaths have been linked to the nursing homes, with the patient dying either at the home or after being transported to a hospital.

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As of Friday, there were 48 active cases within the three nursing homes, including staff and residents.

New York State requires privately owned nursing homes to report all deaths related to COVID-19 to the state. When the state releases the data to the public, it reveals only individual nursing homes with five or more deaths, citing privacy concerns.

Hornell Gardens was not included in the most recent data released by the state, despite the county confirming more than five deaths. Elderwood and Ira Davenport also did not appear on the list.

"There has been at least six COVID-19 deaths that have occurred at Hornell Gardens," Lorelei Wagner, Steuben public health education coordinator, confirmed Thursday. "The facility is responsible for notifying the county and state DOH of any deaths that have occurred for patients who tested positive for COVID-19."

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Hornell Gardens

Steuben health officials said they believe the state needs to be more proactive with its response regarding nursing homes and reporting of cases and deaths. Officials also said they would like the DOH to be more clear with its guidance as it relates to allowing asymptomatic positive staff members to continue to work.

On Thursday, the state reported 2,900 COVID deaths in the state's 600 nursing homes: 3,500 when including deaths at adult care facilities, and 15,740 overall. The nursing home tally has nearly doubled over the past two weeks.

Hurlbut Care Communities CEO Bob Hurlbut, who operates Hornell Gardens, blames the apparent under-count on a new survey method the state implemented for nursing homes in late March.

"Our hope was the (state health) reports would reflect what has been submitted, but we understand that tracking results from several iterations of the survey, as well as capacity to retroactively compile all the data from every nursing home in the state, may be resulting in a delay," Hurlbut said.

But while he waits for the state to share his numbers, Hurlbut has not otherwise released the data or said how many residents and staff have contracted the virus in his facilities.

Smith said the first mass testing was done at Hornell Gardens in conjunction with the State Department of Health in early April. Results came back about two days later, resulting in 46 positive cases among residents and staff. 

Data collection is evolving

In a statement, New York state Department of Health spokesman Gary Holmes sought to offer context to the state's accounting.

The department, he said, “is providing facility-specific and county level aggregate data provided to us as part of a daily census report from more than 600 nursing homes and 500 adult care facilities.

"In addition to working with facilities to address patient care and safety, infection control practices, and equipment and staffing needs, we also implemented a new data collection system to expedite current and retrospective data to assist facilities with reporting — an unprecedented action and something we got done in the middle of the worst public health crisis in a century."

New York had its first confirmed novel coronavirus case on March 1, and the first death two weeks later.  

"This crisis and our response to it continues to evolve," Holmes said, "and the unprecedented amount and specificity of data we are providing to the public will continue to evolve with it.”

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How to file a complaint

On Thursday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo emphasized that most nursing homes in New York are private organizations and only regulated — not run — by New York state.

If a nursing home was unable to provide the state-mandated level of care for a resident or COVID patient, they should have transferred them to another facility, Cuomo said.

"If they cannot provide that, they can't have the resident in their facility — period," Cuomo said. "Those are the rules."

Letitia James, the state's attorney general, has an online tip sheet at ag.ny.gov/nursinghomes and a hotline at 833-249-8499 where people can file confidential complaints against a facility.

Brian Sharp of the USA TODAY Network New York contributed to this story.

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