Virginia’s Department of Health has reversed course, announcing it will release more data on COVID-19 outbreaks at long term care facilities.
The state had been publishing aggregate information, but for the first time Friday afternoon it published a full list of nursing homes and assisted living facilities with COVID outbreaks, including the number of cases and deaths.
State officials had cited privacy concerns before, but now say the pandemic is widespread enough that releasing the more detailed information is unlikely to discourage facilities from working with public health officials, or compromise a patients’ anonymity.
According to the data, there are currently almost 20 facilities with outbreaks of more than 50 cases. The largest current outbreak is at Annandale Healthcare Center in Northern Virginia, where 51 people have died, and 156 people have been infected.
Most of the largest outbreaks are in facilities in Northern Virginia. One of the largest outbreaks outside of the northern region is at Skyview Springs Nursing Home in Page County, with 150 cases and 22 deaths.
In Roanoke there has been one outbreak, at South Roanoke Nursing Home where 13 residents died. There have been two outbreaks in nursing homes in Richmond City, although no deaths. According to the data, there have not been any outbreaks in long term care facilities in Charlottesville or Blacksburg.
Canterbury Health and Rehab in Henrico County received a lot of attention months ago for a large COVID-19 outbreak. That facility is labeled as having an outbreak that is now closed. There were 154 cases there, and 49 deaths.
Officials also announced Friday they’ve received almost 250-million dollars from Congress to help support long term care facilities.
You can find all the data here.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
