Nearly half of the COVID-19 deaths in Los Angeles county are nursing home residents.
In an effort to contain the spread, health officials have made rapid testing in nursing homes with ongoing outbreaks their top priority.
Dr. Barbara Ferrer, director of the L.A. County Department of Public Health, said today about one-quarter of the county’s 360 nursing homes have reached the goal of comprehensive testing:
“As of this morning, 95 skilled nursing facilities have been able to test all of their residents and staff.”
In addition, nursing home administrators have reported delays when they tried to order COVID-19 test kits on their own, and Ferrer acknowledged a “continued delay on receiving results in a timely manner.”
Last week the county released a plan to ramp up testing in nursing homes that called for using up to 60,000 test kits per week.
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