California’s nursing home inspectors aren’t being tested for COVID-19. Say what?
Nursing homes have been vilified in the media for the number of deaths in their facilities due to the coronavirus. Yes, infection control protocols were not up to snuff at many of them, and certainly not for this virus. But when asymptomatic staff and visitors arrive and unknowingly infect the residents, well, there was not much you could do about it, especially in the early months of the pandemic.
Testing has been crucial, as we have all learned. But then we come to find out there was one group that somehow didn’t get the memo. Apparently, the state health inspectors who are visiting all of the nursing homes in California, you know, to make sure they are following the proper infectious disease protocols, were never being tested for COVID-19 themselves. Come again?
The 500 state inspectors not only visit all 1,200 nursing homes in the state but also other healthcare facilities. They are allowed in when families are not. How many administrators do you know who will prevent a state inspector from entering their building? Talk about retribution. But they were never tested, and apparently some of the inspectors understood the hypocrisy of it. Now, their local SEIU union (who ever knew they had a union?) is on the case with the state authorities. I bet this is the first time a union will have the support of the nursing homes they oversee.
We have seen acts of stupidity on the news every night, but to be sending in un-tested inspectors, who travel from facility to facility, often with poorly functioning PPE, well, we hope this isn’t just happening in California. Somehow, I doubt it.
