By Anne Ryman and Caitlin McGlade | Arizona Republic
Federal data released Monday provides the first glimpse at how the COVID-19 pandemic has infiltrated nursing homes across the nation and in Arizona.
Nationally, more than 60,000 COVID-19 cases have been reported among residents in Medicare-certified skilled nursing homes and almost 26,000 have died. One out of four nursing homes had at least one case; one out of five had at least one COVID-related death.
In Arizona, nearly 600 residents and staffers at nursing homes have been infected by the new coronavirus while 88 residents and one staffer have died, according to data the facilities are required to report as of May 8 to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
Information on how many of Arizona’s 140-some nursing homes have had COVID-19 outbreaks was not released Monday, but that data is expected to be available Thursday.
CMS Administrator Seema Verma said the federal agency will post updated COVID-19 data weekly on its website, where the public can look up “specific nursing homes.” This is the same information that the Arizona Department of Health Services refused to release and went to court to keep it secret, citing confidentiality under state law — a decision that was upheld last week by a Maricopa County Superior Court judge.
The federal data does not provide a complete picture of the pandemic’s impact on long-term care facilities for two main reasons:
