Kelly: Nursing Home Death Rate Still 20 Times Higher Than General Public, Calls Again for More Frequent Data

Sen. Kelly Again Calls for Data and Revisions to Nursing Home Guidance on Accepting COVID-19-Positive Patients

HARTFORD – Based on the latest nursing home data released on Thursday, February 3, 2022 Senate Republican Leader Kevin Kelly (R-Stratford) is urging Governor Lamont and the Department of Public Health to reconsider their denial of Sen. Kelly’s request to increase the state’s bi-weekly reporting on nursing home COVID-19 case data and revise their guidance that nursing homes accept COVID-19 positive patients.

“Based on the latest data, CT nursing home populations have a COVID-19 case rate four times higher than the general population, and a death rate 20 times higher,” said Sen. Kelly. “I hope the numbers tomorrow will look better, but the latest numbers we have demand greater attention to the presence of COVID-19 in our nursing homes, not less. Case data for the general population is released on a daily basis, but the same information for those most vulnerable to the virus in our nursing homes is delayed by two weeks at a time. This delay is not reasonable.”

Last month, Sen. Kelly called on the Governor to release daily data on COVID-19 cases in Connecticut’s nursing homes. He also urged the Governor to reverse his directive to nursing homes to accept COVID-19-positive patients from hospitals.

In response to Sen. Kelly’s request, the Department of Public Health stated that nursing home data is only released bi-weekly because “Having this amount of time between data reports allows us to identify trends in the data. These trends are what ultimately guide our decision making, recognizing that day to day differences in data do not accurately represent the course of this virus.”

Sen. Kelly said, “The administration is reporting daily numbers for positivity for the general population and deaths on a weekly basis. If this information is valuable for the general population on a daily basis, why is it not for the most vulnerable population in our state? The rationale from the Department of Public Health to limit information on nursing homes to every other week does not add up and it conflicts with their policies overseeing data on the general population.”

“I again urge the administration to reconsider their course of action and learn from Connecticut’s experience. Nursing home residents remain the most vulnerable population to this virus. Any policy that knowingly introduces COVID-19 into nursing homes is not wise nor does it have the interests of nursing home residents top of mind.”