ATLANTA — The most recent white house coronavirus task force report said Georgia must do more to protect seniors.
According to the report, 28 percent of the state's nursing homes have at least one COVID-19-positive resident. That's more than double the national average of 12 percent.
Several times a week, the Department of Community Health publishes its COVID-19 report, offering a glimpse of what's happening inside our long-term care facilities.
Westbury Medical Care in Butts County leads the state in the number of deaths, with 34. Glenwood Health and Rehabilitation in DeKalb has the most reported cases of coronavirus between residents and staff: 185.
"While we have centers on lockdowns from visitation, we still have the staff that work there, the deliveries that are made," explained Tony Marshall, president of Georgia Healthcare Association.
Marshall said these facilities merely mirror the rise and fall of COVID-19 infections in the community beyond their walls. We plotted it to see if he was right.
The green bars in the graph below are cases statewide. The orange are cases in long-term care. Because of gaps in reporting it's hard to compare, but it does appear there's correlation.
Marshall said the best-practice recommendations by the CDC and CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) is that facilities do weekly surveillance testing of all staff.
"What percentage of facilities would you say are actually doing that?" asked The Reveal investigator Rebecca Lindstrom.
"I would say virtually none," Marshall replied.
Yet, testing is exactly what this White House Coronavirus Task Force said we need. It recommends "routine weekly testing of all workers." But Marshall said that's not happening—and the price tag may be to blame.
11Alive has estimated for a single round of testing for assisted living staff, it cost a little over $1.8 million. For nursing center staff, it would cost a little over $4.2 million. That's for a single round.
To do it every week until the end of the year - that would cost nearly $200 million.
"And that's nationally?" 11Alive asked.
"No, that's just in the state of Georgia," Marshall said.
A spokesperson for Glenwood Health told 11Alive after its outbreak, the facility traced the virus back to asymptomatic residents and staff. That's why all 13 of the nursing homes represented by SavaSeniorCare have decided to buy their own kits to test staff and residents weekly when there's an outbreak. But, they'll have to wait in line for results like the rest of us.
"We're simply back at a stage where we were in April and early May in regards to getting test results, where we might actually be desiring to do another round of testing before we have results back from the last round of testing," Marshall said.
The federal government is shipping testing devices to every skilled nursing facility, allowing them to run faster, cheaper tests onsite. According to the governor's office we've received 80 so far, but that will not help assisted living or personal care homes, which are regulated by the state.
11Alive is focusing our news coverage on the facts and not the fear around the virus. We want to keep you informed about the latest developments while ensuring that we deliver confirmed, factual information.
We will track the most important coronavirus elements relating to Georgia on this page. Refresh often for new information.