CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Gov. Jim Justice sent the National Guard to a Jackson County nursing home Thursday after finding out about a number of positive coronavirus tests at the facility.
Reports indicate as many as seven residents and eight staff members at the Eldercare facility in Ripley had tested positive in recent weeks. Justice indicated not everyone had been tested at the home before Thursday and they should have been.
“I am upset because if someone has purposefully or hid something or made a bad decision that’s not acceptable…that’s all there is to it,” Justice said.
The governor declined to be more specific.
State Adjutant General Jim Hoyer said a Guard unit did lend support to the Jackson County Health Department and the home Thursday afternoon who were apparently conducting tests on everyone else at the home when they arrived. The Guard was going to help get the tests processed.
State Department of Health and Human Resources Secretary Bill Crouch said he was on a conference call with 400 long-term health care providers Thursday discussing the next steps in the pandemic. Crouch said there will be more testing at nursing homes.
“What we want is to test more people and we’re to the point where we are going to test more people. We are going to make sure that our long-term care people out there are tested when there’s a positive in the facility,” Crouch said.
Justice concluded Thursday’s media briefing on the coronavirus with an instruction for the National Guard to gather information and provide nursing home test results from across the state on the DHHR’s coronavirus website.
“Let’s track it just like it’s being done in Ohio,” Justice said. “We need to do that. It will make us more transparent and everything and it will help us.”
The West Virginia Health Care Association, which represents nursing homes, put out a statement praising Justice’s comments on testing procedures.
“As the statewide association representing long-term care facilities, we have consistently supported the testing of all residents and staff in any facility where COVID-19 is detected,” stated Marty Wright, director of the association.
“Based on results in other states, we firmly believe that facility-wide testing will aid our providers in implementing necessary isolation procedures, help to curb the spread of the virus, and provide transparency to residents, staff, and their loved ones.”
Stonerise Healthcare CEO Larry Pack also praised Justice’s call for full testing and transparency in a statement issued Thursday night.
Stonerise operates 17 homes in West Virginia. Only one of them, Eastbrook Center in Charleston, has recorded positive tests. All residents and workers, with the exception of one staff member, were tested after the first case was confirmed.
“Our crisis preparedness plans around COVID-19 have always included the recommendation and intention to test all patients and employees within a skilled nursing center following the first positive test. Center-wide testing enables us to more effectively identify and manage the spread of the virus.
“I applaud Governor Justice for his commitment today to echo this strategy. It is critical for our industry to adopt a shared strategy across all counties in West Virginia so we are able to most effectively protect the state’s most vulnerable population – our seniors,” Pack said.
Seven patients and three workers tested positive at Eastbrook.