Two Connecticut nursing homes have been fined for failing to test all employees for COVID-19, despite an executive order to test all employees weekly, according to the Hartford Courant.
The Hamden (Conn.) Rehabilitation and Health Care Center was cited for failing to test 39 employees between July 29 and Aug. 10, records show. Hartford, Conn.-based Avery Heights was cited for having 37 employees who hadn't been tested between July 23 and Aug. 16.
Under state guidelines issued in June, all nursing homes must test their full staff weekly. The state has matched each facility with a specific lab and pays for all testing until October. If a facility has no positive tests for 14 days, it's allowed to stop testing under current guidelines. The state Department of Public Health will be implementing a new testing strategy for nursing home employees soon, acting Department Commissioner Deidre Gifford, MD, said during an Aug. 27 news briefing.
Officials from Hamden told department investigators that it's difficult to enforce mandatory testing because "although COVID 19 testing is offered to the employees twice per week in the facility, many staff have not been available to come in on the assigned testing days."
Employees who weren't tested were still working, investigators found. Nursing home officials said they "could not remove the staff who did not get tested from the schedule because they would not have enough staff to care for the residents."