“We are no longer just playing defense—we are going on offense against this virus, attacking from every angle with everything we’ve got,” said Governor Hogan. “We are exponentially expanding our testing capacity, enabling us to attack the most acute outbreaks, clusters, and hotspots, including nursing homes, and to provide additional testing for our healthcare workers and first responders.”
Governor Hogan reveals shocking statics. Outbreaks within nursing homes account for 19% of positive cases in State of Maryland with 46% death rate of those “vulnerable patients” in nursing homes.
Effective immediately Governor Hogan and the Maryland Department of Health mandates:
- Universal testing of all residents and staff at all Maryland nursing homes, regardless of whether they are symptomatic. Nursing homes will be prioritized based on an imminent outbreak or a current rising threat risk, and any staff who test positive will be immediately discharged into isolation.
- Mandatory compliance and cooperation with state strike teams.
- Daily evaluation of residents by a physician, nurse practitioner, physician’s assistant, or registered nurse.
- The development of surge staffing plans to ensure continuity of care in the event of an outbreak. To aid in this effort, the state is supplementing strike teams with new bridge teams, which will provide emergency clinical staffing to nursing homes that are experiencing a staffing crisis.
- Each bridge team is composed of a registered nurse and 5-7 aides, sufficient to care for up to 100 skilled nursing home residents per shift.
- Maryland bridge teams include 260 registered nurses and aides who are currently under contract with MDH through an arrangement with Allegis and the Maryland Hospital Association.
- Regular informational updates for residents, resident representatives, and staff regarding COVID-19 infections.
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Stay Up to Date on State of Maryland Nursing Home Statistics