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New legislation requires NJ long-term care facilities to take more steps to stop coronavirus
In the aftermath of a wave of deaths in New Jersey at long-term care facilities and veterans' homes, officials have issued new directives and introduced new legislation to fight the spread of COVID-19 at such locations.
NEW JERSEY - Lawmakers in New Jersey have introduced new legislation requiring all long-term care facilities to report infections and take steps to stop the spread of COVID-19.
However, the news comes too late for the families of hundreds of people who have lost loved ones inside of care facilities.
“My father was supposed to get a military sendoff, the bugler and the flag and all, he never even got that,” said Mitchell Haber of his father Arnold, a 91-year-old Army veteran who died of COVID-19 at the New Jersey Veterans Home in Paramus. According to the Department of Health, 76 deaths at the home have been linked to the virus.
“I don’t think that the administration there handled it properly from the start,” said Cynthia Petersen, whose father, Harold, contracted coronavirus in April but is on the mend.
After the first wave of deaths at the home, Governor Phil Murphy called in the National Guard for assistance and on Tuesday the state Health Commissioner signed a directive requiring all of the state’s long-term care facilities to implement coronavirus testing by May 26.
Lawmakers have also introduced a bipartisan bill to ensure those facilities have a crisis plan in place for the future. The legislation, entitled The Nursing Home Pandemic Protection Act of 2020, would also ensure that nursing and veterans homes immediately report any disease or infection outbreak to the CDC.