NJ Clamps Down On Nursing Homes As Coronavirus Deaths Spiral Up

NEW JERSEY – New Jersey officials said on Tuesday that they're clamping down on nursing homes as long -term care facility deaths continue to spiral upward amid the coronavirus crisis, and the National Guard is now assisting. The announcement was made as Gov. Phil Murphy, speaking during a news conference, said there were 2,494 new coronavirus cases and 334 more deaths across New Jersey (you can watch it here, below).

The update comes as New Jersey's number of overall cases rose to 130,593 and deaths hit 8,244. Read more: NJ Coronavirus Updates: Here's What You Need To Know

Murphy said the nursing home and long-term care industry have been "slow to adapt" as 22,602 coronavirus cases have been identified and 4,151 have died – about half of the state's overall total.

Murphy and Persichilli appeared to use the figures as an opportunity to fire back at people who have said New Jersey should take bigger steps toward reopening.

One of them was Chris Christie, who served as New Jersey governor from 2010 to 2018 and said it's time for New Jersey to reopen. The Garden State, Christie said, will ultimately have to deal with the tragic consequences of the coronavirus outbreak to preserve "the American way of life." Read more: Ex-Gov. Chris Christie: Time For NJ Reopen In Coronavirus Crisis

Murphy said he only read the headlines pertaining to Christie's remarks, but he appeared to address them in context.

"We still have people getting sick and going to the hospital and, sadly, over 300 we're reporting have died," Murphy said. "Nobody is itching more in getting the state up-and-running than yours truly."

A big part of the nursing home and long-term care problem is that, health officials have acknowledged, the numbers are probably higher – maybe even way higher – than reported.

Families and loved ones have been demanding that state officials and the facilities themselves need to be more upfront about the level of contamination in nursing homes, veterans homes and other long-term care facilities. Read more: Mystery Remains As NJ Nursing Home Coronavirus Deaths Keep Rising

Murphy said his administration has been leading reviews of long-term care facilities and enforcing measures to protect residents and staff.

Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli said her department has already curtailed visitation, enforced the notification of outbreaks and required people to wear masks. Now they've also:

• Worked with the National Guard to provide "some efforts" in assisting the facilities, although they weren't specified.
• Conducted an inspection of 60 facilities in April to check for the availability of personal protective equipment, the quality of infection control and staffing levels, among other criteria.
• Directed at least four sites to develop "directed plans of correction" after the inspections, and several facilities have to bring in consultants to assist. She didn't identify the facilities.

Persichilli also said nearly 4,000 residents and staff were tested at 16 long-term care facilities in South Jersey, and 9.75 percent of the staff and 24.4 percent of the residents tested positive. Most of these individuals, she said, were asymptomatic.

Residents and staff who were negative, she said, will be retested.

New Jersey will also expand testing at least 74 more long-term care facilities and on thousands of residents, and the state will particularly target places that have a small number of cases. At those sites, the state will try to stop outbreaks before they start.

Murphy said he hopes the solutions New Jersey can find in protecting nursing homes and long-term care residents will be "a national model for mitigation, protection, and resiliency – whether it be for COVID-19 or a future pandemic."

Murphy pointed to three graphs that showed the curve of coronavirus cases and deaths in nursing homes and long-term care facilities is not flattening:

Murphy announced on Monday that schools will close for the rest of the academic year because of the coronavirus outbreak. Murphy provided details on his decision. Read more: New Jersey Schools Closed For Rest Of Academic Year: Gov. Murphy

Murphy also provided an update of what the Jersey Shore summer may look like as he addressed the public on Monday. Read more: Gov. Murphy Has New Insight Into How Jersey Shore Summer May Look

Watch Murphy here:

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