Nursing Home Deaths

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CORONAVIRUS BRIEFING ■ Federal paycheck subsidy fund nearly exhausted ■ Feds pressured to track outbreaks at nursing homes ■ Printing business raises $20K for local businesses ■ Adidas again temporarily closes distribution center ■ If you get COVID-19 and recover, are you immune?

THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2020

NEWSSTAND 50¢

CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

Virus takes heavy toll at nursing homes

Mortality rate in county outpaces state average.

BY STEVE MOCARSKY STAff WriTEr

Nursing home residents account for 21 out of the 27 COVID-19 deaths in Luzerne County, while that elder population accounts for only half of coronavirus deaths statewide, according to data released by the state Department of Health.

And while the DOH will not provide virus case or death

numbers for individual nursing facilities, a review of obituaries showed a dramatic increase in the overall number of deaths at one Luzerne County nursing home in particular in recent weeks.

A review of obituaries revealed that 18 residents at Timber Ridge Health Care Center, a 180-bed for-profit facility in Plains Twp., have died since March 1. That’s double the average number of residents who died there in that same time period in 2017, 2018 and 2019, when the num-

ber ranged between eight and 10 residents.

Ten of those obituaries were for residents who died there in just one week, between April 7 and April 13.

Obituary information also shows that 13 Timber Ridge residents died in the first two weeks of April compared to three residents in 2017, two in 2018 and one in 2019 during that same time period.

A review of obituaries for residents of Luzerne County nursing homes similar in size to Timber Ridge did not reveal

any sort of similar spike in resident deaths this year.

Three residents of Wesley Village in Jenkins Twp., which has 183 beds, died in April, while only one resident of ManorCare in Kingston, which has 176 beds, died this month, according to a review of obituaries.

Dolores Pisano, a Timber MArk MorAN / STAff phoTogrAphEr Ridge resident who died Monday, had tested positive for Eighteen residents at Timber Ridge Health Care Center COVID-19 prior to her death, in Plains Twp. have died since March 1. It’s unknown how many of those deaths are attributed to COVID-19 according to her family.

Please see DEATHS, Page A5

as the facility and the state Department of Health have refused to release that information.

Testing facility coming to arena

REGIONAL FOOD BANK EXPERIENCES ENORMOUS DEMAND

Political opposition accompanies DOH confirmation of mass testing site.

BY JAMES HALPIN AND ERIC MARK STAff WriTErS

MArk MorAN / STAff phoTogrAphEr

Rod Blaine of the Commission on Economic Opportunity walks by containers of milk donated by the dairy industry to the Harry & Jeanette Weinberg Regional Food Bank in Pittston on Wednesday morning.

Food insecurity on the rise in region

Demand at Weinberg food bank has tripled since March 1

BY STEPHANIE PANNY STAff WriTEr

The Harry & Jeanette Weinberg Northeast Regional Food Bank has served more than 2 million pounds of food to people in need since March 1.

This is almost triple the amount it normally serves.

“This is unprecedented, as far as what we’re all going through,” said Gene Brady, executive director. “I would hope that, at least so far, the generosity of people in the commu-

nity, organizations, and the government continues. We are hoping that private donations will continue so we can continue helping people that are impacted by the COVID-19 emergency.”

Before the quarantine, the food bank was already doing its part to help by making boxes filled with shelf-stable items for the elderly population — the population most at risk for infection. In late March, when Gov. Tom Wolf ordered the closure of schools and the shut-

down of nonessential businesses, the food bank extended its services to include families in need.

“A greater amount of what we’re doing is for families,” Brady said.

“What we’re seeing is that people lost their jobs and are trying to get food for their families.”

Brady said volunteers, taking all the necessary precautions, have been compiling standard care packages for these families.

Please see FOOD, Page A5

‘A greater amount of what we’re doing is for families. What we’re seeing is that people lost their jobs and are trying to get food for their families.’

Please see TESTING, Page A5

1 death, 44 new cases reported in county County now has total of 1,567 cases.

BY JAMES HALPIN STAff WriTEr

One more person has died as another 44 cases of COVID-19 have been documented in Luzerne County, according to the state Department of Health.

The county had a total of 1,567 cases with 27 deaths as of Wednesday morning, up from 1,523 COVID-19 cases with 26 deaths that had been reported a day earlier.

The latest victim was a 75-year-old woman with preexisting medical conditions, County Manager Dave Pedri said.

Between Saturday and

ASSociATED prESS filE

Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine cautioned that while the daily increases are not exponential, ‘now is not the time to become complacent.’

Tuesday, Luzerne County experienced 11 deaths, nearly all of whom were elderly with pre-existing medical condi-

tions. Seven of them were women ages 56, 56, 69, 70, 89, 93 and 93. Four of them were men ages 55, 82, 88 and 95.

GENE BRADY

harry & Jeanette Weinberg Northeast regional food Bank executive director

State officials announced Wednesday that a drive-thru testing facility for COVID-19 is coming to Mohegan Sun Arena, confirming controversial plans that had been met with swift political opposition.

During a news briefing Wednesday, state Department of Health Secretary Rachel Levine said health officials and the state Emergency Management Agency determined the Wilkes-Barre Twp. arena, which is owned

by Luzerne County, would be an ideal location to test residents from around Northeast Pennsylvania.

“There are extensive plans in terms of how to route traffic, etc.,” Levine said. “So we feel really strongly that this is a really good place to have this mass-testing site.”

Levine said she hoped to announce “really soon” when the facility would open.

“The increasing number of our people dying from this disease shows that while our numbers are decreasing, this is still extremely serious and could be deadly here in Luzerne County,” Pedri said.

Across the state, the health department recorded another 1,145 cases Wednesday, bringing the total to 26,490 cases with 647 deaths.

“COVID-19 cases and deaths continue to rise in Pennsylvania, and even though the daily increases are not exponential, now is not the time to become complacent,” Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine said in a statement.

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CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2020

TESTING: Yudichak critical of decision FROM PAGE A1

In a statement, state Sen. John Yudichak, I-14, Swoyersville, said he had been informed the site opens Sunday. Yudichak alleged the health department failed to consult the mayors of WilkesBarre and Wilkes-Barre Twp. about the decision, even though “considerable local resources and services” could be needed to support the site.

“The department’s slow response to addressing language barriers in our Latino Community in Hazleton, the lack of COVID-19 data sharing with our County EMA professionals and first responders, and the department’s inadequate enforcement measures in our regional industrial parks have all led to the increasing deployment of limited local resources to address COVID-19 crisis in Luzerne County,” Yudichak said.

State Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski, D-121, Wilkes-Barre, called on the health department to find an alternate location for the facility, citing the concerns of local leaders.

“It is imperative that I emphasize the concerns of Wilkes-Barre Twp.’s officials and residents about the possibility of those being tested possibly having access to many commercial sites within a half mile of the arena,” Pashinski said. “Their concerns are legitimate and demonstrate a sincere sense of fear of the expansion of this virus to themselves, their families and their neighbors and deserve to be addressed.”

Wilkes-Barre Twp. Mayor Carl Kuren previously expressed opposition to the plan, saying he was concerned about sick people shopping at nearby retail outlets. He said

he had not been consulted during the decision-making process.

Wilkes-Barre City Mayor George Brown also confirmed he had not been consulted about the proposed facility, although he said he wouldn’t necessarily be informed about plans in the township.

Levine, however, disputed the contention that her department failed to consult local authorities.

“In collaboration with the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, both of us have had extensive contact with local authorities about this site, and many, many phone calls,” Levine said. “We very much appreciate the senator’s support for all of our efforts.”

County Manager David Pedri said the county has been “consistently forwarding” requests by medical providers for state and federal assistance to get more testing in Northeast Pennsylvania.

“The Department of Health identified the arena as a location for this testing site,” Pedri said. “They contacted us and sought county assistance through our sheriffs department, EMA, 911 and operations division in order to support their initiative. The county agrees with our medical community that additional testing is needed and will provide whatever assistance we could to protect our citizens.”

The Luzerne County Convention Center Authority, appointed by county council, oversees the operations of the arena.

“We are working with the state on the logistics” for the testing site, authority board Chairman Gary Zingaretti said.

The authority will hold a

DEATHS: 4 Timber Ridge employees have tested positive FROM PAGE A1

MARK MORAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Luzerne County Manager David Pedri said the state Department of Health identified the Mohegan Sun Arena as a testing site location. special meeting via teleconference on Friday, during which it might vote on a proposed contract with the state about the testing site, Zingaretti said.

The state will reimburse the authority for all costs incurred, he said, though he added the authority’s only large expense is likely to be electricity.

Testing site operations will be limited to the parking lot, and no one will be allowed inside the arena, Zingaretti said.

Yudichak said the testing site at the Mohegan Sun Arena will be run by the Pennsylvania Department of Health and Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency. Members of the Pennsylvania Army National Guard “may be a part” of the operation at some point.

However, unlike testing sites in Montgomery County and Philadelphia, the Wilkes-Barre Twp. site will not include federal resources, Yudichak said.

Pashinski said the site would be “used for prioritized testing for first responders, health care workers and those experiencing symptoms of the virus.”

According to Yudichak, the facility will require people to pre-register for testing and will be open even to non-Luzerne County residents.

Yudichak says he supports

efforts to “aggressively and responsibly test” for the virus, but that he has concerns about the health department’s “shortcomings” in vetting the site in Wilkes-Barre Twp. For example, Yudichak said he asked if hospitals had been consulted prior to the decision and health department officials said no Northeast Pennsylvania health care professionals had been consulted about establishing a site or improving data gathering during the testing process.

Asked whether the Geisinger Health System was consulted about the testing site, spokesman Matthew Van Stone released a prepared statement.

“As a community we are all in the fight to stop the spread of COVID-19 together,” Van Stone said. “Our top priority has, and always will be, the health and well-being of our families, patients, and members. Expanded access to testing for those who need it is something that supports community-wide efforts to combat COVID-19 in Northeastern Pennsylvania and beyond. We continue to partner with state and federal public health officials and our communities throughout this pandemic and our eventual recovery.”

Contact the writer: jhalpin@citizensvoice.com 570-821-2058

FOOD: Dealing with huge increase in demand FROM PAGE A1

These packages include mostly shelf-stable items, but they are also now including frozen items, although Brady said it depends on the member organization’s ability to handle that — including freezer capacity, delivery timing, and refrigerated trucks.

Because of the huge increase in demand, Brady said Weinberg is trying to project how much food it

might need to keep providing.

“We have supplies that are coming in constantly,” Brady said. “I wish we had more food coming sooner, but so far we’ve been able to deliver and reach a lot of people through our member organizations in the four-county area we serve.”

Brady said the amount of food a certain member organization needs is relative to the size of the community that organization serves. He

THE CITIZENS' VOICE A5

said that those who were living paycheck-to-paycheck before the quarantine and are now jobless and waiting for the stimulus check or unemployment benefits are spending money on essentials, including food.

Although gover nment stimulus checks started being distributed this week, Brady doesn’t know if the amount of people requesting food will drop because people might have to use that money to pay bills, including rent.

Brady said if people want to donate money or food, want to volunteer, or are in need of help, they can go to the food bank’s website.

“We look forward to the day when we can return to normal,” Brady said. “But, in the meantime, we need to help those people who have been impacted by this situation and can’t afford to pay for necessities like food.”

Contact the writer: spanny@citizensvoice.com, 570-821-2051

said. “We are truly blessed to have such an amazing staff who continue to care for our residents each day.

They truly are heroes, every one of them.”

Michael D’Arcangelo, who the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid list as a major shareholder for ownership of Timber Ridge, did not return a message left for him at Complete HealthCare Solutions in Dresher, where he is president and CEO of that company.

Wendell Young, president of AFSCME for Pennsylvania, said on Wednesday that the union represents about 135 licensed practical nurses, nurses’ aides and custodial workers at Timber Ridge, and four of them have tested positive for COVID-19.

Young said he was aware of no complaints about prot e c t ive m e a s u re s fo r patients or employees at the facility.

B u t h e d i d s ay t h at nowhere near enough COVID-19 testing kits were available in the state.

He said every nursing f acility with AFSCME employees is “doing everything they need to do to comply” with state health department guidelines, as f a r a s h e k n ow s, a n d employees have tested positive at other nursing facilities across the state and nation.

The state Department of Health began providing the number of COVID-19 cases, deaths and outbreaks among nursing home residents at a county-level basis on Wednesday.

Of the 26,490 COVID-19 cases statewide, 3,316 were among nursing home residents at 297 distinct locations in 33 counties, state Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine said during a news conference.

According to the health department website, 132 of those cases were in Luzerne County nursing homes, and nine of the 11 nursing facilities in the county reporting COVID-19 cases had outbreaks.

“Two weeks ago, she was a healthy, 89-year-old woman with no health problems other than some dementia and some mobility issues,” Pat Rushton, her son-in-law, said on Wednesday.

“We haven’t received the death certificate yet. But there’s no doubt in our family’s mind that the coronavirus contributed to her death if it didn’t directly cause it,” Rushton said.

How many of the recent deaths at Timber Ridge could be attributed the coronavirus pandemic is unknown because both the facility administrator and the state Department of Health refused to reveal that information.

“Timber Ridge respects the rights and privacy of our residents and staff. We cannot comment on the current status of our residents or staff to ensure their privacy,” facility administrator Gloria Keyes said in an emailed statement in response to questions about the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases a n d d e at h s at T i m b e r Ridge.

Keyes did not explain how revealing the number of virus-related deaths at the facility could infringe on patient privacy.

Keyes said staff are in close communication with local and state health officials to ensure they are “taking the appropriate steps at this time,” and that staff and residents are “following the recommended preventative actions.”

Visitors were restricted from entering the facility and all group activities within the building were canceled. Residents are monitored for signs and symptoms of COVID-19, and families are provided updates as appropriate, Keyes said.

She said staff are screened each day before they enter the facility and they wear personal protective equipment to protect themselves and residents.

“We greatly appreciate the support that our resi- Contact the writer: dents and families have smocarsky@citizensvoice.com shown at this time,” Keyes 570-821-2110, @MocarskyCV

SUPPORT: AxelRad set new fundraising goal VIRUS: Infection rate has been declining FROM PAGE A4

But, by April 9, that initial goal was met. It took only a few more days for orders to shoot past AxelRad’s new $15,000 goal.

Until the goal has to be reestablished yet again, the bar is now set at $25,000 raised for businesses. More than $20,000 had been scraped together by Wednesday evening.

“It’s honestly insane,” Rice

said. “I did not expect such an influx in such a short amount of time.”

Many shirts simply consist of the businesses’ logos, but Rice said he isn’t charging artwork fees for anyone looking for creative twists. A personal favorite design he created was for Dino’s Pizza Express, where Rice worked for several years. Dino’s shirt features a slice of pizza with only a little pepperoni spread

o u t a n d a no t h er s l i c e crammed with pepperoni — demonstrating the do’s and don’ts of social distancing.

While there are some fan favorites in the movement, Rice said sales are spread rather evenly across all businesses involved.

Other places interested in joining the campaign can contact AxelRad through its website or its various social media platforms.

In addition to buying shirts, Rice said the public can chip in by spreading word of the fundraiser or even by checking out all the various T-shirts for sale.

Someone might find a local business he or she was never aware of but can support once storefronts begin to open up again.

Contact the writer: eshultz@citizensvoice.com 570-821-2054; @CVEricShultz

Crestwood adjusts its lunch distribution program STAFF REPORT

WRIGHT TWP. — The Crestwood School District has adjusted its lunch program for students.

Lunches will be provided Library and Slocum Twp. 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Mondays, Fire Hall.

Wednesdays and Fridays at All five days of breakfast the Secondary Campus, and lunch will be provided.

W h i t e H ave n P u b l i c On Mondays and Wednes-

days, students will receive two lunches and breakfasts.

On Friday, students will receive one breakfast and one lunch.

FROM PAGE A1

are 50-64 and 22% are 65 or older. Those 65 or older make up a majority of cases involving hospitalization and death, according to the health department.

The rate of infection in Luzerne County and across the state has been declining in recent days. Authorities credit that to social distancing practices and Gov. Tom Wolf ’s stay-at-home order, which is in effect until April 30. Wolf ’s school closure and non life-sustaining business closure orders also remain in effect.

“We must continue to stay home to protect ourselves, our families, our community. If you must go out, please make as few trips as possible and wear a mask to protect not only yourself, but other people as well. We need all Pennsylvanians to continue to heed these efforts to protect our vulnerable Pennsylvanians, our health care wo rke r s a n d f ro n t l i n e responders.”

To date, less than 3% of patients have been 18 or Contact the writer: younger, while 6% are 19-24, jhalpin@citizensvoice.com 40% are 25-49, nearly 29% 570-821-2058

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CORONAVIRUS BRIEFING ■ Big firms get $300M in loans meant for small businesses ■ Senate approves $483B aid deal, sends it to House ■ Parents choose to forgo home school for their children ■ More people turn to gardening during outbreak ■ Coronavirus pandemic affects sales of lottery tickets

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 2020

NEWSSTAND 50¢

CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

MIXED RESPONSE

Many county nursing homes refused to respond to inquiry over COVID-19 patients at facilities

COVID-19 claims 14 more lives in county The increase was attributed to a different method of tracking deaths.

By JAMES HAlPIN STAff WriTEr

MArk MorAN / STAff phoTogrAphEr

A patient is placed into an ambulance at Timber Ridge Health Center in Plains Twp.

By STEVE MOCARSKy STAff WriTEr

O

fficials at 13 of the 24 nursing homes in Luzerne County have refused to say whether any residents tested positive for COVID-19 in response to a request, but President Donald Trump’s administration has now agreed to make that information public.

U.S. Sens. Bob Casey, D-Pennsylvania, and Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, secured a commitment by the Trump Administration to publicly release the names of nursing homes across the country that have cases of COVID-19, the senators’ offices announced Tuesday.

The decision follows a letter the senators sent earlier this month urging the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

ONlINE EXTRA

and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to release this “critical information” to nursing home residents, their families, health care professionals, first responders and the public.

Some facilities respond A spokesman for Guardian Healthcare reported two of its nursing homes in Luzerne County had positive cases — Mountain Top Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center had 33 confirmed cases and River Run Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center in WilkesBarre had two.

Guardian’s other two facilities in Luzerne County — Birchwood and Guardian Healthcare and Rehabilitation Centers in Nanticoke — had none.

Please see RESPONSE, Page A5

READ MORE

read the letter Sens.

Bob Casey and ron Wyden sent to the CDC and CMS asking for the release of nursing homes with CoViD-19 cases at citizensvoice.com.

■ pittston man mourns loss of both parents to CoViD-19.

Page A5 ■ patient advocate, nursing home official says state needs more action to confront CoViD-19 deaths. Page A5

AREA NURSING HOME RESPONSES TO CASES Thirteen of Luzerne County’s 24 nursing homes provided no details about CoViD-19 cases at their facilities as of Thursday last week.

Reported positive cases ■ Mountain Top healthcare & rehabilitation Center: 33 cases ■ river run healthcare & rehabilitation Center, kingston: 2 cases

Refused to provide case information ■ The gardens at East Mountain, plains Twp. ■ The gardens at Wyoming Valley, Wilkes-Barre ■ The Manor at St. Luke Village, hazleton ■ The pavilion at St. Luke Village, hazleton

Did not respond to inquiry

Reported no positive cases ■ Birchwood healthcare & rehabilitation Center, Nanticoke ■ Allied Services Center City residence (formerly St. Luke’s Villa), Wilkes-Barre ■ guardian healthcare & rehabilitation Center, Nanticoke ■ hampton house, hanover Twp. ■ ManorCare health Services, kingston ■ Allied Services Meade Street residence (formerly Little flower Manor), Wilkes-Barre ■ Allied Services heinz Transitional rehabilitative Unit, Wilkes-Barre ■ The Meadows, Dallas ■ Wesley Village, Jenkins Twp.

■ highland Manor rehabilitation & Nursing home, Exeter ■ kadima rehabilitation and Nursing at Lakeside, Dallas ■ kadima rehabilitation and Nursing at Luzerne, Drums ■ kingston health Care Center, kingston ■ Mercy Center Nursing Unit, Dallas ■ Mountain City Nursing & rehabilitation Center, hazle Twp. ■ riverstreet Manor, WilkesBarre ■ Smith health Care, Mountain Top ■ Timber ridge health Center, plains Twp.

Luzerne County experienced a sharp increase in its COVID-19 deaths on Tuesday as the Pennsylvania Department of Health reported another 14 fatalities.

The death toll in the county now sits at 50, up from 36 on Monday.

The health department also reported 33 new cases, bringing the total of known cases to 1,800.

During a media briefing Tuesday, Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine attributed the increase in fatalities, which was experienced across the state, to a different method of tracking deaths.

In addition to including confirmed COVID-19 deaths, the state is now including “probable cases” in which the victim had symptoms and contact with a positive person but was not personally tested.

“In the last number of days we’re reporting more deaths,” Levine said. “But it’s not like that many deaths occurred in 24 hours. This is a collection of reports over the last couple of weeks.”

Luzerne County Manager Dave Pedri echoed that sentiment, noting that only three of the 14 deaths occurred Monday.

The other 11 died between Thursday and Sunday, he said.

“Today the county hit 50 deaths,” Pedri said. “That is 50 of our mothers, fathers, neighbors and friends who we have lost. While we all strive to break free of this quarantine, we cannot lose site of the fact that we are still in the midst of this fight.”

Pedri identified those who died Monday as three women, ages 80, 85 and 101. All were residing in nursing homes, he said.

Please see CASES, Page A5

ADVE RTISE M E NT

Officials working to add phone registration Wilkes-Barre “Muni” option for coronavirus testing site at arena Golf Course

Test registration currently can only be completed online.

By JIM HAlPIN AND BOB KAlINOwSKI STAff WriTErS

WILKES-BARRE TWP. — Pre-registering to be tested for the coronavirus outside the Mohegan Sun Arena can currently only be done via the health department’s website, but the state Department of Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine said Tuesday that her department is working to add a phone registration option by the end of the week.

way that people can register by phone.”

In the meantime, Levine said she did not see a problem with family members signing up a relative who does not have internet access using the website, although she cautioned that only symptomatic people are being tested.

First responders, health DAVE SChErBENCo / STAff phoTogrAphEr care workers and people 65 and older who are experiencPeople in cars line up for testing Tuesday outside ing symptoms can now get Mohegan Sun Arena in Wilkes-Barre Twp. tested at Mohegan Sun Are“We were not satisfied said. “We are working with na with an appointment. with the answer that you had them at the (Department of to use the internet,” Levine Health) at finding another Please see TESTING, Page A5

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CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 2020

THE CITIZENS' VOICE A5

Pittston man describes parents’ battle with virus

BY BOB KALINOWSKI STAFF WRITER

MARK MORAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Mountain Top Healthcare & Rehabilitation Center reported 33 positive cases of COVD-19 at their facilities.

RESPONSE: 9 nursing facilities did not respond to coronavirus inquiry FROM PAGE A1

The spokesman said the facilities have sufficient personal protective equipment and that staff follow CDC and DOH guidelines, but he did not provide details about protocols for residents who present symptoms of or test positive for COVID-19.

Allied Services, Ecumenical Enterprises, HRC ManorCare and United Methodist Homes all reported zero cases in their combined seven Luzerne County facilities.

Priority Healthcare and Consulate Health Care, which operate a total of four facilities, refused to provide case numbers, citing patient and employee privacy concerns.

Officials at the nine other nursing facilities in the county did not return calls or emails.

Among those that were non-responsive was Timber Ridge Health Care Center, a 180-bed for-profit facility in Plains Twp. where an unusually high number of resident deaths occurred recently based on a four-year comparison of obituary information.

At least 18 Timber Ridge residents have died in the past three weeks, obituaries showed.

How many of those deaths could be attributed the coron av i r u s p a n d e m i c i s unknown because the facility administrator and the De par tment of Health refused to say, citing privacy concerns.

“We cannot comment on the current status of our residents or staff to ensure their privacy,” said in an emailed statement in response to questions about the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths at Timber Ridge for a previous story.

Details explained A handful of nursing

home representatives provided detailed responses to the newspaper’s questions.

Wesley Village Executive Director Danielle Janeski noted that two residents were tested for COVID-19 and both tests were negative. She said test kits are available to the facility upon request and administered when a doctor orders a test.

Janeski said residents can be tested for COVID-19 after presenting at least one symptom, regardless of whether they have underlying medical conditions.

She said parent company United Methodist Homes has “an ample supply” of all personal protective equipment.

Asked about isolation protocols, Janeski said staff follow infection control guidelines as recommended by the CDC, CMS and state Department of Health.

“We have plans for cohorting residents in an isolated area should it be needed if we have a suspected or positive COVID-19 diagnosis, again as recommended by the CDC, CMS and the DOH,” she said.

Linda Kanarr, CEO of Ecumenical Enterprises, operator of The Meadows in Dallas, said the facility had no confirmed cases. If a patient presented any COVID-19 symptoms, they would be sent either to a Geisinger hospital or to the patient’s health care provider.

Kanarr said staff is “very cautious about privacy,” but she believes providing statistical information to the public is important, and keeping patients, their families and facility staff informed about protocols and procedures is equally important.

Kanarr said the facility has been ordering PPE over the last several weeks and is “in a really good place” with supplies. She said the state DOH has been “extremely

supportive” of nursing homes and directed them to sources for obtaining PPE and other supplies.

Julie Beckert, spokeswoman for HRC ManorCare, said she was aware of no positive COVID-19 cases at Hampton House in Hanover Twp. or ManorCare Health Center in Kingston. She also provided a detailed response to questions about resident and staff protocols and procedures.

Beckert also said precaution measures include creating an Airborne Isolation Unit as part of the facilities’ infection control and treatment plan.

“This means we will designate an isolation unit for patients who meet our isolation criteria (higher risk patients); the unit will have barriers installed to protect other residents and employees and keep higher risk patients in a focused treatment area; we will have personal protective equipment dedicated to this unit; as much as possible, we will have dedicated staff on the unit in CDC-approved PPE; … special cleaning, disposal, laundry and sanitizing measures will be enforced,” she explained in an email.

Jim Brogna, a spokesman for Allied Services, confirmed there were zero cases in any of the company’s three facilities in WilkesBarre and said staff were following CDC and DOH guidelines.

Consulate Health Care spokeswoman Jennifer Trapp declined to provide numbers of COVID-19 cases for Manor at St. Luke Village or Pavilion at St. Luke Village in Hazleton, but also said the facilities were following CDC and DOH guidelines.

Contact the writer: smocarsky@citizensvoice.com, 570-821-2110, @MocarskyCV

TESTING: Takes about 10 minutes FROM PAGE A1

On Tuesday, testing was conducted outside the arena, a facility being run by the Department of Health, the state Emergency Management Agency and the state National Guard. The number of tests administered was not available at press time.

“I just want everyone at home and the community to know that the National Guard is out here, we are on state active duty, and that we are here to facilitate a smoothly running facility as possible,” said 1st Lt. Owen Dietrich, offi-

cer in charge of the National Guard forces supporting the COVID-19 testing site. “And we’re doing everything that we can — us as the state, and the country — to get through this as smoothly as possible.”

Those who are approved to testing show up at the testing site at an approved time and must show identification. Several people tested said the process takes about 10 minutes.

Everyone tested is advised to go home to self-isolate and their results should be ready within several days.

The public and members of the media were not per-

To our valued customers:

mitted on the grounds of the arena. Police and sheriff ’s deputies stood watch at the perimeter.

Traffic was strictly controlled, as Highland Park Boulevard near the arena was blocked off between Mundy Street and the entrance and exit ramps of Interstate 81.

Those leaving the testing site must travel back on Highland Park Boulevard and then are directed by police back onto Interstate 81 so they don’t visit any businesses.

Alfred and Beverly Cannarella of Pittston, set to celebrate 50 years of marriage in August, died of the coronavirus days apart earlier this month. Their deaths came just weeks after starting inpatient rehabilitation together at the Timber Ridge Health Care Center in Plains Twp. The couple’s son, Al Cannarella of Pittston, describes his parents as longtime warriors against health problems who just couldn’t conquer their final battle with the coronavirus — a disease that is particularly lethal to those with preexisting conditions like them.

“My parents were fighters,” the Pittston man said.

His father, Alfred Cannarella, 73, who beat bladder cancer and was battling leukemia, died on April 6. Less than a week later, his mother, Beverly, 70, a kidney transplant survivor of 40 years with heart problems, died on April 12.

Because of strict quarantine measures enacted because of the virus, both

SUBMITTED

Alfred and Beverly Cannarella of Pittston died weeks after starting inpatient rehabilitation together at the Timber Ridge Health Care Center in Plains Twp. died in hospitals without loving family members by their side. Final words, like a goodbye from a son to his beloved mom, had to be done on the phone with the help of a stranger — the nurse that happened to be in the room.

“She was asking for us. It w a s g u t - w re n ch i n g t o explain we couldn’t be there, to explain to someone you love you can’t see them,” Al Cannarella said.

Even their last rites before death were done by speaker phone.

Al Cannarella, 48, said the last time he saw his mother was March 20 when she

entered Geisinger Community Medical Center in Scranton for mobility issues. At the time, his father was also experiencing weakness from his cancer treatments. The family decided they both would be admitted to Timber Ridge on March 26 for rehabilitation.

“We thought having them together would be an ideal situation,” Cannarella said.

Cannarella said both parents tested negative for the coronavirus on March 31, but both would eventually become infected.

Please see BATTLE, Page A8

Patient advocate: State needs more aggressive action to confront deaths

BY TERRIE MORGAN-BESECKER STAFF WRITER

Pennsylvania must take more aggressive action to halt the spread of the coronavirus in long term care facilities, including testing all residents and workers and possibly designating certain facilities to house only people who test positive, a patient advocate and an official with a nursing home trade association said.

As of Monday, 27 of the 36 COVID-19 deaths in Luzerne County involved residents housed at nursing homes and personal care homes, according to the state Department of Health. In Lackawanna County, nursing home and personal care home residents account for 24 of the county’s 41 deaths. The figures are similar statewide, with 682 of the 1,204 victims residing at facilities, the department reported.

The deaths continue to mount despite measures the homes implemented to halt the spread, including barring visitors, testing employees to determine if they have a fever and isolating infected residents. But little has been done to address the most pressing issue: identifying carriers of the virus who show no symptoms, said Zach Shamberg, executive director of the Pennsylvania Health Care Association, a

trade group for long term care facilities.

“One of the toughest things is to find those workers who come in and, through no fault of their own, may test positive for the virus and not have any symptoms. That’s a big reason why this spread so quickly,” Shamberg said.

Facilities are not able to do that yet, however, because test kits remain in short supply, he said.

“Testing is the next domino to fall,” he said. “We’ve got to get everyone tested ... It is the only way we will be able to return to normal.”

Shamberg said facilities also continue to fight to obtain personal protective equipment, which is crucial to protect employees and prevent them from spreading the disease to patients.

“We represent the most vulnerable population, most of whom have underlying health issues,” Shamberg said. “When you couple that with the fact we are fighting every day for PPE, ... more staff and emergency funding, when you put all those factors together, it really is the perfect storm.”

Kevin Kavanagh, director of Health Watch USA, a patient advocacy group, said efforts to halt the virus from entering facilities fell short with catastrophic outcomes.

“You try to wall off the

home from the outside. Once COVID-19 gets into the nursing home environment ... it tends to ravage residents and it does not stop,” Kavanagh said.

Many homes tried to halt the spread by isolating residents to a specific floor. Kavanagh said the government must consider taking it a step further and designate one facility to house infected patients.

Shamberg agreed that may be the next step, acknowledging it would be a massive undertaking to move residents, but not impossible. He noted Massachusetts did that early on in the pandemic.

Shamberg said the federal government also took another positive step forward on Sunday, when the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued new regulations that require nursing homes notify families of residents if they have residents who test positive for the virus.

Shamberg said PCHA urged its member facilities to provide those reports, but not everyone did. The organization fully supports the mandate.

“I think the most important responsibility a nursing home has is to the loved ones of its residents. The line of communication has to be open,” he said.

Contact the writer: tbesecker@timesshamrock.com;

CASES: 1,564 fatalities so far in state FROM PAGE A1

The other fatalities included two men, ages 63 and 64, who died in area hospitals, he said. The rest were all in nursing homes and were identified Contact the writer: as three men ages 55, 88 and bkalinowski@citizensvoice.com, 92, as well as six women ages 570-821-2055, @cvbobkal 71, 90, 94, 95, 95 and 96.

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The rate of the disease’s spread has continued to slow, but Gov. Tom Wolf ’s stay at home order remains in effect until May 8.

So far across the state, there have been 34,528 COVID-19 cases with 1,564 fatalities. To date, less than 3% of patients have been 18 or younger, while 6%

are 19-24, 39% are 25-49, 28% are 50-64 and 25% are 65 or older.

The majority of those who have been hospitalized or killed have been 65 or older, according to the health department.

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CORONAVIRUS BRIEFING ■ U.S. unemployment surges to Depression-era level ■ Wolf IDs businesses exempted from his shutdown order ■ County election board posts primary voting information ■ Local municipalities alter spring cleanup procedures ■ Communication is key for couples in quarantine NEWSSTAND 50¢

SATURDAY, MAY 9, 2020

CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

Casey, Wyden push for nursing home data

FRUSTRATED Stay-at-home order extension, soaring jobless numbers create difficult situation

Letter criticizes administration for taking their time in releasing the info.

BY STEVE MOCARSKY STAFF WRITER

BY DENISE ALLABAUGH STAFF WRITER

Nursing homes nationwide must now report COVID-19 cases and deaths and some other pandemic-related information to the federal government, and that information will be made public in a few weeks, but that’s not nearly soon enough to suit some elected officials.

U.S. Sens. Bob Casey, D-Pennsylvania, and Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, on Friday accused President Donald Trump’s administration of slow-walking the release of the information.

“The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services continues to delay the collection and dissemination of data regarding the rapid and tragic spread of COVID-19 in nursing homes across the nation,” the senators said in a press release.

In a separate statement, Casey pounded the Trump Administration for mismanaging a crisis he said has harmed seniors in nursing homes.

“The lack of transparency into where the virus has spread not only delays our response to this crisis, it unnecessarily risks lives. Thus far, the Administration has taken baby steps towards what’s needed, without knowing where to address their response. Without this information, adequate testing and a full supply of (personal protective equipment), our seniors will continue to suffer,” Casey said.

Like millions of Americans, the coronavirus pandemic has left Wilkes-Barre resident Peter Troyan out of work.

Troyan worked in the men’s department of Boscov’s in Wilkes-Barre, which is among many retail stores closed since March.

Troyan tried to file for unemployment benefits but gave up because the system was crashing after being overwhelmed by an unprecedented volume of claims with more than 1.7 million Pennsylvanians losing their jobs.

He is now living off his $1,200 stimulus check.

Gov. Tom Wolf announced Thursday that stay-at-home orders were extended in Luzerne County until June 4, which means many businesses will remain closed.

Please see JOBS, Page A11

MARK MORAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Peter Troyan, a Boscov’s employee in Wilkes-Barre, believes Gov. Tom Wolf’s stay-at-home order extension is ‘impeachable.’

College seniors face a challenging job market Entering the work force has rarely been tougher.

BY MICHAEL P. BUFFER STAFF WRITER

The COVID-19 pandemic and rising unemployment has made finding a job a real challenge for some graduating college seniors.

“The job market is kind of dry right now. Trying to find something, especially if not medical

Inside today

Business . . . . C1 Horoscope . . C3 Classified C4-10 Lottery . . . . . . A2 Crossword. . . C2 Obituaries A10-11 Editorial . . . . . A9 Pets . . . . . . . . . B4 Health. . . . . . . B5 World/Nation A8

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related, it’s really difficult,” Misericordia University student Carlee Capece said. “Hiring is not a top concern right now, which makes sense.”

Capece, 22, will get a bachelor’s degree in government, law and national security. She is from ShickCOURTESY OF BLOOMSBURG UNIVERSITY shinny and went to Northwest Area High School.

Bloomsburg University senior Lizmeidy Hernandez, who is looking Please see SENIORS, Page A8

for a job in marketing, said it’s a scary time to be entering the work force just out of college.

Please see NURSING, Page A8

Western Pennsylvania counties will soon escape lockdown Six more deaths, 15 new cases reported in Luzerne County.

BY BOB KALINOWSKI STAFF WRITER

Thirteen more Pennsylvania counties will reopen on a limited basis next Friday, but Luzerne County will not be one of them, Gov. Tom Wolf announced Friday during a news briefing about the coronavirus.

Luzerne County and 29 others, mostly in the north-

LEVINE

WOLF

east and southeast part of the state, will remain under a stay-at-home order.

Wolf made the announcement on a day when 24 counties, mostly in the northwest region, reopened on a limited basis, shifting from the state’s restrictive

stay-at-home red phase to a less restrictive yellow phase.

The number of COVID-19 deaths in Luzerne County increased by six on Friday, the state Department of Health announced.

The death toll is at 120.

The department reported 15 new positive cases in Luzerne County, bringing the total to 2,347 cases. The number of negative tests stands at 6,133.

Health department statistics show there are 332 posi-

tive cases and 80 deaths in Luzerne County nursing homes or personal care homes.

In addition, 53 employees have tested positive for COVID-19.

The department said 40 COVID-19 tests were administered on Friday at the drive-thru testing site at Mohegan Sun Arena. To date, 1,498 tests have been administered.

Wolf recently announced the stay-at-home orders for counties in the red phase

would be in effect until at least Jan. 4. Asked why he extended the order for a full month instead of evaluating the situation each week, Wolf said he figured a month “would make more sense.”

Asked at Friday’s briefing whether counties in the northeast could shift from red to yellow before June 4, Secretary of Health Rachel Levine said it was too soon to tell.

Please see VIRUS, Page A5

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A8 THE CITIZENS' VOICE

Wolf identifies businesses that got exemptions

nursinG: Decision soon on data on individual facilities from page a1

In response, CMS provided a statement saying that “in the absence of congressional action, the Trump Administration made historic efforts to increase nursing home transparency requirements to ensure residents, families and the public have critical information on (COVID-19) cases in their community’s nursing homes.” CMS noted the agency alerted nursing homes on April 19 that new reporting requirements would be coming, and was committed to following timelines CMS laid out in an Interim Final Rule released April 30.

With the new requirements implemented by CMS over three weeks from the initial notice to nursing homes, nursing homes are now required to report the first week of data to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention beginning May 8 but no later than May 17, the agency noted.

“Our guidance clearly states that we plan to publicly release this data by the end of May. Given this, it is unclear to us the basis of the senators’ criticism,” CMS said.

moving too slowly Casey and Wyden sent a letter on April 2 to CMS Administrator Seema Verma and CDC Director Robert Redfield urging the agencies to collect and release information on the incidence of COVID-19 and related deaths at individual nursing homes and to make the information available to the public.

The senators sent the letter after the CDC reported earlier that week that 400 nursing home residents had died due to COVID-19. That number has since climbed to more than 20,000, according to a recent report by The Associated Press.

CMS, which regulates more than 15,000 nursing homes nationwide, released on Wednesday a guidance memo detailing nursing home reporting requirements under the rule.

The guidance document made clear that it will be several weeks, if not longer, until COVID-19 cases and deaths at nursing homes are reported to residents, their families, and

the public, according to Casey and Wyden.

The senators’ major complaints are: ■ Slow implementation: CMS will not require nursing homes to begin to submit data to CDC until May 17, and the agency is giving nursing homes an additional threeweek grace period to comply.

Nursing homes that fail to report the data will not face monetary penalties until after June 7.

■ Slow public reporting: CMS does not anticipate that it will begin publicly reporting the data nursing homes submit until late May — nearly three months after the first COVID-19 death at a nursing home in Washington state, and nearly two months after Casey and Wyden first requested that CMS and CDC publicly report nursing home COVID-19 information.

■ Relaxed reporting rules: According to a memo CMS issued on April 19, nursing homes will be allowed to wait up to 41 hours before reporting new COVID-19 cases to residents and their families or representatives — a significant rollback from earlier in April when the agency said it planned to require nursing homes to make these notifications within 12 hours.

release of state data On Wednesday, Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine said officials had been discussing the release of COVID-19 case and death information for individual nursing homes and that she expected there would be a decision this week.

However, Department of Health Press Secretary Nate Wardle said on Friday that officials were “continuing to consider” whether or not to release that information. “If we are to do so, it will be made available on our website,” he said.

State Sen. John Yudichak, I-14, Swoyersville, commended Casey and Wyden for pushing for the release of the data and agreed it’s been too slow in coming.

Yudichak also said the DOH should have been releasing that data publicly since the first cases were reported, noting that 38 other states,

By BoB KalinowsKi Staff Writer

timeS-SHamroCK fiLe

State Sen. John Yudichak, I-14, Swoyersville, praised the efforts of Sens. Bob Casey, D-Pa., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and agreed that the information has been too slow in being released.

nursinG Home numBers the state department of Health reported the following CoVid-19 data for nursing and personal care homes as of midnight friday: in Luzerne County ■ 19 facilities with positive cases ■ 332 cases among residents ■ 53 cases among employees ■ 80 CoVid-19 deaths Statewide ■ 552 facilities with positive cases ■ 10,919 cases among residents ■ 1,542 cases among employees ■ 2,458 CoVid-19 deaths

including New York, New Jersey and Ohio, are doing so. He said the DOH has been “hiding behind” the 1955 state Disease Prevention and Control Act, which limits the release of communicable disease data.

“Under the emergency declaration (Gov. Tom Wolf) made on March 6, the secretary has the authority under terms of the emergency to supersede that Act,” he said. “This information is important to not only residents, their families and the public, but also to emergency responders.”

no comprehensive plan in place

Wisconsin are providing comprehensive COVID-19 testing for all nursing home residents and employees.

Yudichak noted that Levine testified before the state Senate Aging and Youth and Health and Human Services committees earlier this week that the state has the capacity for comprehensive testing at nursing homes and are considering implementing it, but currently has no plan set up.

And, while Massachusetts is cohorting nursing home residents who tested positive for COVID-19 to separate facilities in order to lessen the chance of spreading the virus, the DOH is recommending that residents hospitalized with COVID-19 return to the nursing homes to recover — a move intended to keep hospital beds free for serious cases.

Yudichak said he would like to know why underutilized field hospitals set up to handle COVID-19 patient overflow from hospitals can’t be used to house nursing home residents, which would be allowed under CMS rules.

And despite claims from the Trump Administration earlier this week that personal protective equipment is being adequately supplied to nursing homes, Yudichak is concerned that they are “still short of supplies and resources.”

Yudichak announced last week the establishment of the Northeastern Pennsylvania Nursing Home Supply Operate Save Program to assist area nursing homes with an initial $250,000 donation from Earth Conservancy and a matching grant from the AllOne Foundation, but he’s concerned that aid still won’t be adequate.

Yudichak also slammed the Wolf Administration and the DOH for having “no comprehensive, statewide action plans for nursing homes in Pennsyl- Contact the writer: smocarsky@citizensvoice.com vania.”

He said West Virginia and 570-821-2110, @mocarskyCV

US unemployment surges to 14.7%

By CHrisToPHer ruGaBer aSSoCiated preSS

WASHINGTON — The coronavirus crisis has sent U.S. unemployment surging to 14.7%, a level last seen when the country was in the throes of the Depression and President Franklin D. Roosevelt was assuring Americans that the only thing to fear was fear itself.

And because of government errors and the particular way the Labor Department measures the job market, the true picture is even worse. By some calcula-

tions, the unemployment rate stands at 23.6%, not far from the Depression peak of nearly 25%.

The Labor Department said Friday that 20.5 million jobs vanished in April in the worst monthly loss on record, triggered by the coast-to-coast shutdowns of factories, stores, offices and other businesses.

The breathtaking collapse is certain to intensify the push-pull across the U.S. over how and when to ease stay-at-home restrictions. And it robs President

Donald Trump of the ability to point to a strong economy as he runs for reelection.

“The jobs report from hell is here,” said Sal Guatieri, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets, “one never seen before and unlikely to be seen again barring another pandemic or meteor hitting the Earth.”

On Wall Street, stocks pushed higher as investors reckoned that the worst of the job losses are over. The Dow Jones Industrial Aver-

age gained more than 455 points, or close to 2%.

Worldwide, the virus has infected at least 3.9 million people and killed over 270,000, including more than 76,000 in the U.S., according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University based on official data. White House officials announced that Vice President Mike Pence’s press secretary has the coronavirus, the second person at the complex known to test postive this week, and said safety protocols were being stepped up.

seniors: Job search ‘definitely a little rough’ from page a1

“I do have an offer, and it’s not what I would want to start with,” she said. “But it’s something, and that’s what my adviser told me. It’s really hard right now, so take literally any job that is related to your field because it will lead to a betterpaying job.”

Last year, Capece had an internship with the state Department of Labor & Industry. The department is now being overwhelmed with unemployment compensation claims.

“I was helping family members apply for UC, and we had problems,” Capece said. “Having such an influx of people filing unemployment benefits, it is liable to crash, and it created a lot of problems for people.”

Wilkes University senior Caroline Rickard, 21, started applying for jobs in February.

Her degree will be in communication studies, and she was hoping to get a job in a big city in corporate communications

or communications marketing.

At first, she started getting email responses with information about companies and interviews. That changed in late March.

“When the end of March hit, I started getting emails that were more along the line that we’re going to hold your application, but we’re currently not hiring,” said Rickard, who is from Orwigsburg.

She has a third interview coming up with a Philadelphia agency that works with pharmaceutical companies.

“All of the interviews that I have had have been via Zoom.

No in-person, all phone, video, conference calls,” Rickard said, noting one interview involved recording answers to questions on video.

King’s College senior Jake Sarwar, 21, is receiving a degree in political science and wants to find a job in broadcasting.

“It’s definitely a little rough, especially with COVID going

SATURDAY, MAY 9, 2020

on,” said Sarwar, who is from Saylorsburg. “I’m going into broadcasting, and I’m looking at the local stations. I interned at WBRE, and it was actually cut short due to COVID. ... It’s definitely become a little difficult. I know some places have a hiring freeze.”

Sarwar was working as a resident assistant on campus when King’s closed its facilities and residences in March and transitioned from in-person instruction to online instruction.

Bloomsburg University senior Lizmeidy Hernandez, 22, moved back to Hazleton in March to finish work on getting a degree in health science and sociology. Her landlord still charged her two months of rent for her off-campus apartment, and now she’s looking for a job in marketing.

“It is hard to find jobs right now around my area that aren’t doing factory work,” Hernandez said.

She said she may consider working at the Amazon distri-

Gov. Tom Wolf ’s administration late Friday identified all the businesses in Pennsylvania that were granted an exemption to remain open during the coronavirus shutdown, including 136 in Luzerne County.

Wolf had been subpoenaed by state lawmakers to provide documents about the controversial waiver process that allowed some businesses to stay open during the coronavirus pandemic while others were told to remain closed.

At 5:26 p.m., the Wolf administration’s Department of Community and Economic Development sent a press release about the issue that included a link to a website identifying all 6,066 businesses in Pennsylvania that were granted exceptions.

When Wolf ordered the statewide shutdown, he said only life-sustaining businesses could remain open in their physical locations. However, businesses had the opportunity to prove they were essential and get a waiver to remain open.

Since then, DCED employees reviewed more than 42,000 exemption requests, Friday’s press release says.

Of those requests, 6,060 were approved, 12,826 were denied, and 11,635 were notified that their request did not require an exemption to remain open.

Wolf had the option to ignore the subpoena and invoke executive privilege, potentially setting off a court fight.

“Over the past eight weeks, Pennsylvania has been focused on protecting public health while balancing the needs of our commonwealth’s businesses, and ensuring that those providing life-sustaining services and products can continue operations,” said DCED Secretary Dennis Davin. “While other states also enacted business closures, Pennsylvania was one of the first states to create an exemption process and offer an opportunity to those businesses that believed they could be of service to public health and safety. I appreciate the patience of Pennsylvanians as we worked through the exemption review process. As we begin the process of our measured, data-driven, phased reopening of counties, we look forward to seeing the economy slowly reopen in a safe and strategic manner.”

Instead of being hailed as transparent, the waiver process has been decried as secretive and seemingly inconsistent, as businesses in the same industries report different outcomes.

Davin defended the process.

“Pennsylvania is home to nearly one million small businesses, and while protecting public health and safety was our number one priority throughout this process, the administration recognized that businesses not identified as life-sustaining warranted the opportunity to operate in some capacity if they could offer life-sustaining services,” Davin said.

“Throughout this process, our primary focus was on reviewing exemption applications and assisting businesses with their questions and concerns, all in service of the goal of protecting public health in the face of an unprecedented and quickly evolving public health emergency.”

eXemPTed the following businesses, listed alphabetically, were granted exemptions to remain open: ■ 1964, a. rifkin Co., abbey road Control incorporated, ability recovery Services, air Conditioning and refrigeration Services, inc., air excellence Corporation, alexandria Ne LLC, allan industries, american arborpro LLC, american asphalt paving Co., american precision glass Corp., american pump Service, amp global Strategies, ashley machine & tool Co., asplundh Construction LLC. ■ Bp Home repairs and remodeling, BdS ii, BdS iii, Bear Creek organics LLC., Bella machine inc., Belrick Corporation, Bennett Construction LLC, Birk plumbing & Heating LLC, Blasi printing Corp, Brian galada electric, Brian Konopinski, inc.

■ C&S truck and auto Shoppe, Cargill, Carol’s floral & gift, Certech inc., Champion Builders, Chaucer press, CJ electric, Computer Visionaries, Conklin’s tree Service, Craft metal products, inc.

■ d Sites trucking, dancheck’s extinguishers and Service, dave monk electric, dCS Holdings, discount electronics, dotzel trucking, douthat Construct Company ■ e&B Construction Co., eJs preventative maintenance, embroidery factory LLC, erg Staffing Service, espositios, extreme Home Services ■ fastfab, forbo flooring Systems, furkids pa pet Sitting / dog Walking ■ g&a equipment and machine inc., giant floor, gr8 Sings inc, grand Central ■ Hawk tree Service, Hazleton City authority Water department, Hildrebrand excavating, Hi-tech flooring ■ itoh denki USa ■ Jan pro of Nepa ■ Keystone Landscaping with a touch of Class LLC, Keystone tobacco, Kleen air Systems ■ Lesjofors Springs america, Lombardi Construction, Loop internet, Luzerne County Hearing LLC ■ m. abraham floors, m.e.K. machine, manpower, med plus Uniforms & Scrubs, merut Construction, mickey truck Bodies, midState Lumber, midatlantic engineering, mountain Stream Construction, mpW industrial Services group, multiscape ■ Nepa geeks, Nepa Liquidation ■ onesource Leasing Solutions, oremus Construction ■ penn Lock Corp., pennsylvania Water Specialties Company, phaser Corporation, pier Cove LLC, plum-air LLC, precision tree removal, pSp Ne LLC ■ Quality metal products ■ ralmark Company, rJ precision machining, robert H. Smith Clean Water, robert J. faber Jr., excavating, ron Seely Construction, roovers inc., rutkoski fencing ■ Sam Barbose masonry and Hard Scaling, Sand Springs Country Club, Simply Homebrew, Skyhook inc., Smith associates, SmL property Services, Sordoni Construction, Stardusters Housecleaning, Steve’s Lawn Care & Landscaping, Summit Utility Structures ■ tp tree Service, t.J. Cannon inc., testfabrics, this & that 2nd Hand Store, tomassaci tree, troy manufacturing ■ Ubiquity global Services, Utility engineers ■ Valley power, Valley Woodcraft & LBr Co., Varsity ■ Water medic, Wilcox and mcCormick, Wilmot Company, Window World of Wyoming Valley, Workforce resources Staffing ■ Yanuzzi inc, Your Chores LLC ■ Zodiac printing Corp.

bution center in Hazle Twp. while she waits for the economy to improve and create more job opportunities.

“Everything is on hold, and companies are losing money and laying off employees,” Hernandez said. “So it’s definitely scary entering the work force as a fresh graduate during all of this. I am waiting for the situation to improve to fully immerse myself in this process.”

Bloomsburg’s career management system has seen a decrease in full-time job postings, from just under 1,500 in April 2019 to 1,350 in April 2020, Professional Development Manager Lauren Kross Polins- Contact the writer: ki said. Job opportunities are bkalinowski@citizensvoice.com significantly down in hospital- 570-821-2055, @cvbobkal ity, travel and entertainment, yet opportunities remain in health care, teaching, cyber, Ask the Voice technology and grocery store Send questions about the news or management and purchasing, sports issues to reporters and ediPolinski said. tors via citizensvoice.com/askthevContact the writer: oice, citydesk@citizensvoice.com mbuffer@citizensvoice.com or call 570-301-2180.

570-821-2073, @cvmikebuffer

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CORONAVIRUS BRIEFING ■ Almost 39 million have sought unemployment aid ■ Maskless Trump tours Ford factory in Michigan ■ Hanover Area teachers honor Class of 2020 ■ Pandemic could make U.S. birth rate drop even steeper ■ Coronavirus has been especially hard on hotel industry

FRIDAY, MAY 22, 2020

NEWSSTAND 50¢

CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

Errors persist in Pa. nursing home numbers

Some of the incorrect information has been fixed, but discrepancies remain.

BY STEVE MOCARSKY STAFF WRITER

across the state for the first time Tuesday, but some facility officials said those numbers were inaccurate.

Asked to address those complaints, Levine in her daily press briefing said the data currently comes from the National E l e c t ro n i c LEViNE Disease Surveillance System, which the department normally uses.

“I had heard there were a few errors on (Tuesday), the first report we put out. All of those have been fixed. We did not put out a report yesterday. But today, we have, and any errors will be corrected,” Levine said.

The department reposted updated data from Tuesday’s report early Thursday afternoon, which contained adjustments to case and death numbers for some nursing homes, but not for any in Luzerne County.

Although Pennsylvania’s Secretary of Health said Thursday that all errors in nursing home COVID-19 data released Tuesday have been fixed, some discrepancies apparently remain.

Dr. Rachel Levine also said a computer problem prevented officials from updating COVID-19 data on the DepartMARk MORAN / STAFF phOTOgRAphER ment of Health website on Hound House owner and groomer Kirsten Gilpin holds Bear in her shop in Tunkhannock. Gilpin will reopen her Wednesday. shop today and is taking extra measures to keep all clients safe.

Asked to explain in detail Wednesday’s data problem and what she was doing to prevent it from happening again, Levine described it as “an informational technology computer problem.” She said, “the IT professionals who work for the Office of Administration fixed it” and she was “sure they’ll do everything

BY JON O’CONNELL more people. Keep your dispossible to prevent it from STAFF WRITER tance from other groups pichappening again.”

After 52 days under stay-at- nicking.

The DOH released the home orders, three rural At state parks, charcoal numbers of COVID-19 cases counties in Northeast Penn- grills in picnic areas are free among residents and staff sylvania start reopening game, barring wildfire preand the number of related today. cautions. That applies for deaths at individual longPlease see DATA, Page A11 Susquehanna, Wayne and counties still in the red term care living facilities Wyoming Counties are phase, too, said Ryan Dysingamong 12 counties moving to er, park operations director the yellow phase. for the Department of ConThirty-seven Pennsylvania servation and Natural counties have already achieved Resources. yellow, a stepping stone toward He offered a warning on normal. It will not be the nor- the charcoal grills.

MARk MORAN / STAFF phOTOgRAphER mal we remember.

“It’s a touch surface that is The coronavirus and the not regularly cleaned,” he Gilpin greets Bear’s owner, Brett Miller, outside her deadly disease it causes, said. “Grills are there and shop in Tunkhannock.

COVID-19, still poses a real able to be used, (but) people Attorney: Immunity doesn’t apply to threat, and while critics still need to practice care.” willful misconduct or gross negligence. clamor about the financial Pavilions and other group

BY STEVE MOCARSKY weakened immune systems cost of blanket shutdowns, gathering spaces are comBY THE NUMBERS STAFF WRITER and chronic medical condihealth workers on the front pletely off limits, but picnic One of the criteria for easing some state pandemic An attorney who specializ- tions that predispose them to lines wage war with an ene- tables have enough space restrictions is the total number of new cases per 100,000 es in nursing home neglect the deadly respiratory dismy that is not done with us between them. population over 14 days. Counties become eligible to yet. cases said residents who suf- ease and the facilities experiThe DCNR started a web move to the “yellow phase” when that number reaches 50.

With those things in mind, page for tracking when differ harm from COVID-19 enced shortages in staffing Luzerne County cases Yellow phase we answered some questions ferent functions open up at while at a Pennsylvania and personal protective goal we anticipate people still state parks and forests. Find nursing home and their fam- equipment.

May 8 to 21 Jamie Anzalone, an attorhave as the first parts of that at www.dcnr.pa.gov/ ilies have legal recourse in NEPA go yellow. certain situations, but claims ney with Anzalone Law FacilitiesMap. per 100,000 pop. per 100,000 pop.

Q: Am I allowed to have Offices in Wilkes-Barre, notcould be difficult to prove.

Q: Will shops limit the cookouts or picnic in parks n u m b e r o f c u s t o m e r s Nursing homes across the ed that Gov. Tom Wolf signed There were 22 new cases reported in the county or other public places? country have been ravaged an order granting limited allowed inside?

Thursday, or 7 per 100,000 population. There were 2 A: Yes. But keep in mind by the novel coronavirus, as newly reported deaths, bringing the total to 130.

Please see LEgAL, Page A11 rules barring groups of 25 or Please see qUESTiONS, Page A6 elderly residents often have

RED TO YELLOW

Starting today, some NEPA counties will move to the yellow phase. What does that mean?

Legal claims vs. care homes could be tough to prove

COUNTDOWN TO YELLOW

83

50

Arena testing site will close May 29

BY ERiC MARK STAFF WRITER

The COVID-19 testing site in the parking lot of Mohegan Sun Arena in Wilkes-Barre Twp. will close May 29.

The planned closure of the site was confirmed Thursday

by Luzerne County Manager David Pedri and Gary Zingaretti, chairman of the county convention center authority, which oversees the operations of the arena.

The state Department of Health established the drivethru testing site last month to test symptomatic Northeast Pennsylvania residents for COVID-19. It opened April 20.

The state Emergency Management Agency informed the county sheriff’s office, which

TIMES-ShAMROCk FIlE

Officials said all traces of the testing site outside Mohegan Sun Arena in Wilkes-Barre Twp. should be gone by the end of the month. has provided security at the site since it opened, that its services will not be required after the end of next week, Pedri said.

Zingaretti said he was told the last day of testing will like-

ple had been tested at the site, the Health Department reported. The department had said the site could test 200 people per day, but most days the number of people tested was much lower.

The opening of the testing site last month was controversial. Some township officials and state lawmakers said the arena was not an ideal location for the site, since it is close to a busy commercial district at which sick people might spread the novel coronavirus.

Attempts to reach a Health Department official for comment on Thursday were not successful.

ly be May 29, and all traces of the testing site will be gone by the end of the month.

“I can confirm they will be off the property by May 31,” Contact the writer: emark@citizensvoice.com Zingaretti said.

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22:25 | DONLINKEVI

Obituaries / news

FRIDAY, MAY 22, 2020

Laura Jean Lutz Kotula

Linda C. Bohman

May 13, 2020

May 9, 2020

Laura Jean Lutz Kotula, 85, entered eternal light on Wednesday, May 13, 2020, at home, under the loving care of her children.

Born Nov. 11, 1934, in Plainsville, Plains Twp., she was the daughter of the late Sterling and Laura Ellen MervineGurr Lutz.

She was a graduate of Plains High School, where she was a cheerleader. Laura retired from Penguin Putnam.

Laura was known for her kind heart and comedic wit.

She was a committed fundraiser for local school and community organizations.

She was recognized with the title of the 1972 March of Dimes Mother of the Year for her fundraising efforts.

During Laura’s younger years she was active in the

Eastern Star, Holy Mother of Sorrows SOCL and PTA, Benjamin Franklin Elementary School PTA, Citizens for a Pro g ressive Dupont, Dupont Bicentennial, a Boy Scouts Den Mother and many other community organizations by assisting with fundraisers and social events. Laura was a baseball fan which led her to meet her husband, Edward P. Kotula, who she married on April 19, 1953. Laura enjoyed her grandchildren and her greatgrandchildren greatly. They were the subject of many conversations and brag sessions at the Pittston Active Adult Center.

Laura was preceded in death by her husband, Edward P. Kotula, in 2003; sisters, Mildred Eustice, Martha Harding, Caroline Kelly, Evelyn Fernau and Ruth Forlenza; brothers, William Lutz and Marvin Lutz.

Laura is survived by her

children, Laura Ellen “Lolly” and her husband, Samuel Alfano, Media; Walter, Dupont; Marcella and husband, Joseph Miller, Harding; and Anthony and his wife, Debbie Pokego, Odessa, Fla.; grandchildren, Matthew Alfano, Lauren (Alfano) Barthelemy, Jennifer Alfano, Jonathan and Steven Kotula, Audrey, Danny and George Zielinski and EJ Kotula; great-grandchildren, Amelia and Angus Barthelemy, Ember Isabelle Kotula, Natalia and Farad McCree, Mahki Zielinski and Kiara Walker; sister, Margaret (Peggy) Arcadu, Easton; and many nieces and nephews and dear friends.

Laura’s family would like to extend special thanks to the Pittston Active Adult Center for providing irreplaceable relationships developed after the passing of her husband. Her participation there truly enriched her life.

Additional thanks are extended to the staff of the PCU at Geisinger Wyoming Valley and Traditional Home Health and Hospice who provided great care and ensured Laura’s end of life requests were met.

Memorial contributions may be made in her honor to Wyoming Valley Children’s Association, 1133 Wyoming Ave., Forty Fort, PA 18704.

A private memorial service will be held Saturday at her son’s home with the Rev. Zbigniew Dawid of Holy Mother of Sorrows Church, Dupont, officiating.

Interment will be held in Holy Mother of Sorrows Cemetery, Dupont.

Arrangements are made

by Kiesinger Funeral Services Inc., 255 McAlpine St., Duryea.

C o nd o le n c e s m ay b e made to www.kiesingerfuneralservices.com.

Obituary policy

firmed via an email receipt to the submitter. The obituary desk number is 570-

821-2100. Obituaries will be edited according to Associated Press guidelines to main-

tain uniformity and style. All obituaries should be submitted in paragraph form.

Obituaries will be con-

THE CITIZENS' VOICE A11

Linda C. Bohman, 54, of Jupiter, Fla., and formerly of Drums, died Saturday, May 9, 2020, at her parents’ home in Centerville, Ohio.

Born in Tacoma, Washington, she was the wife of Dave Bohman, formerly of WNEPTV. A graduate of Fairmont West High School, Kettering, Ohio, and Luzerne Community College, Nanticoke. Linda worked as a freelance wellness coordinator at several businesses and as a server at Four Blooms Restaurant, Drums and Junie G’s, Mountain Top. Her many interests included cooking, traveling, fine dining, working with her husband at charitable events in Luzerne, Lackawanna and Schuylkill Counties, and being a mother and grandmother.

In addition to her husband, she is survived by her parents, Robert and Rose Wade, Centerville; her children, Kristin Collins, Centerville, Ohio; Adrianna and Alexis Bohman, Jupiter, Fla.; three sisters, Sandra Whobrey, St. Cloud, Fla.; Tammy Flint, Wilmington, OH; Kimberly Pickerd, Amelia, Ohio; a brother, Jeffrey Wade, Centerville, Ohio; along with two grandchildren; three nieces; and seven nephews.

The family requests donations in her name be made to the Northeast Regional Cancer Institute, 334 Jefferson Ave. Scranton, PA 18510, supported

by Linda and Dave at several fundraisers in recent years.

Condolences may be sent to www.tobiasfuneralhome. com.

Doris Lee Shaiman May 21, 2020

Doris Lee Shaiman, 88, of New York, died Thursday, May 21, 2020, at home.

Ar rangements from Rosenberg Funeral Chapel

Inc., Wilkes-Barre, for a private graveside funeral service on Sunday in Anshe Ahavas Achim Cemetery, West Pittston.

data: Officials say they will correct issues that led to errors frOm PAge A1

L at e r T h u r s d ay, t h e department posted updated nursing home data for that day, but that report still didn’t jibe with numbers some nursing homes in the county were reporting.

For example, the state reported Tuesday that Riverstreet Manor in WilkesBarre had 84 residents and 20 employees with COVID-19 and 20 related deaths. The case numbers in Thursday’s report remained the same and the number of deaths increased to 22.

But officials from Genesis Health Care, which operates 32 nursing homes statewide including Riverstreet Manor, put their resident case number at 79 and the number of deaths at 16.

Likewise, the DOH reported 101 resident cases, 20 employee cases and 16 deaths for Timber Ridge Health Care Center in Plains Twp. on Tuesday and t h e s a m e nu m b e r s o n Thursday.

But Timber Ridge administrator Gloria Keyes said in an email Thursday that the facility reports to several databases for both the state and federal government, and DOH’s Tuesday report is inconsistent with the reports the facility submitted.

Keyes said 82 residents had tested positive with the virus, 27 of those residents died in connection with the virus, and the remaining residents have recovered.

She said the last positive case resolved April 24, and the facility currently has no active COVID-19 residents.

Of the 30 staff members who tested positive, Keyes said, 29 had recovered as of Thursday and one continues to follow their physician’s treatment plan.

Keyes said Timber Ridge is working with the Pennsylvania Health Care Association in response to the DOH’s publicly reported data.

“Transparency is important to us, which is why we believe the Department of Health’s decision to publicly report the number of COVID-19 cases in each facility is a good step. However, the first public report does not match our facility numbers,” Keyes said.

“We recognize that (the department’s) flawed publicly reported data may cause unnecessary confusion and concern for our residents, resident family members, staff and community. We are hopeful that the department will cor rect this issue,” she said.

In the future, Levine said,

“the goal is that we’ll be putting out that data from the surveys that we have requested from the longterm care living facilities to be consistent with the (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) data. All of that data will be the same as the CMS will be reporting.”

Levine also noted that not all facilities have been sending the data to the state.

Levine confirmed that COVID-19 cases reported on the department website include both confirmed cases and probable cases, but that only confirmed cases are used when determining when a county will transition from the red to yellow phase for reopening some businesses and lifting other social-distancing restrictions.

Press Secretary Nate Wardle later confirmed that the nursing home cases numbers on the website include only confirmed cases.

There are two instances in which a case is considered probable — when someone had a positive antibody test and either virus symptoms or a high-risk exposure, or when someone has both symptoms and a high-risk exposure.

Contact the writer: smocarsky@citizensvoice.com 570-821-2110, @mocarskycV

LegaL: Governor’s order does not give immunity to facilities frOm PAge A1

immunity to health care workers as it relates to care re n d e re d t o C OV I D - 1 9 patients.

“That provides them with limited immunity for negligent acts in delivering health care services to patients with COVID-19, but there is no immunity for willful misconduct or gross negligence toward these patients,” Anzalone said.

And Wolf ’s order does not grant immunity to facilities.

“Where there is a system failure, negligence is not subject to the immunity,” Anzalone said. “The order keeps it at the regular negligence standard that we had (previously) for corporate negligence claims.”

If investigating a claim of negligence against a facility, Anzalone said, an attorney might try to determine if:

■ Staff were using proper personal protective equipment.

■ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, such as hand-washing and social distancing between residents and restricting visitors, were being followed.

■ Quarantine guidelines were being followed for residents who tested positive for the virus or were showing symptoms of having it.

■ Group activities were in violation of CDC or Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services guidelines.

“Some of this is hard to prove,” Anzalone said. “It’s often relying on what residents are telling you.”

Inadequate staffing often plays a major factor in proving negligence during normal times, but during a pandemic can be “tricky” to prove, depending on the rea-

son, he said.

“Under normal circumstances, there should be no excuse why elder folks are not getting proper care because of staffing,” Anzalone said. “But if you have three or four staff members who are symptomatic, that could be a valid excuse.”

And while infection control might be treated differently in a negligence case arising during a pandemic, “it wouldn’t excuse not following every protocol and guidance issued by CMS, CDC or (the state Department of Health) on how to limit the spread of the infection,” Anzalone said.

“Even in this fluid situation that changes daily, guidelines have to be followed, as tedious as it may be,” he said.

Contact the writer: smocarsky@citizensvoice.com 570-821-2110, @mocarskycV

news in brief OLd fOrge

wyoming woman killed in crash The woman fatally injured in a one-vehicle crash Wednesday in Old Forge was identified Thursday by borough police as a resident of Wyoming.

Nancy Wolicki, 64, was a passenger in a 2005 Chevrolet Trailblazer that crashed into a rock wall in the 400 block of North Main Street about 3:45 p.m., police said.

She was taken to Geisinger Community Medical Center in Scranton, where she died from her injuries.

Police identified the driver of the Trailblazer as Wolicki’s sister, Donna Wolicki, 68, also of Wyoming. She remained hospitalized in critical condition Thursday afternoon, police said.

The crash is still under investigation, police said.

—STAFF REPORT

AssOciATed Press file

Gov. Tom Wolf has said he has a plan in place to test every nursing home employee and resident once a week starting June 1.

Nursing home testing a big challenge for Pa.

State must boost testing numbers to meet Wolf’s goal.

by MarC LeVy and MiCHaeL rubinKaM AssOciATed Press

HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania must boost its testing numbers several times over to meet Gov. Tom Wolf’s goal of administering a weekly coronavirus test to well over 100,000 people in long-term care facilities across the state, a gigantic undertaking that health officials are scrambling to make a reality in less than two weeks.

It’s unclear who would administer the tests, who would supply them — and, despite Wolf’s assurances that emergency federal aid will cover the tab — who would pay.

Nursing homes and other long-term care facilities have struggled for months to contain the virus, with many lacking the trained staff, testing supplies and personal protective equipment in the early going that could have helped them slow the spread, according to public health experts.

Residents of long-term care homes account for roughly two-thirds of the statewide death toll of more than 4,800, a higher proportion that in most other states.

The White House has strongly urged testing of all residents and staff at the nation’s hard-hit nursing homes. On Wednesday, Wolf said his administration has a plan in place starting June 1 “that we will be testing every employee and every patient once a week.” He repeated the vow in a call with reporters Thursday. But the Wolf administration has made no such plan public, and the numbers make clear that such widespread, weekly testing would present a daunting challenge.

“Without a plan, and without adequate supplies to do it, we’re concerned about how well it’s going to be implemented,” said Adam Marles, president and CEO of LeadingAge PA, which represents hundreds of nonprofit nursing

homes statewide.

More than 120,000 people live in about 1,900 nursing homes, assisted living centers and personal care homes regulated by the state, according to information from state agencies. The facilities have tens of thousands of workers.

That means Pennsylvania could have to figure out how to administer more than 200,000 tests a week, or 800,000 a month, to monitor every longter m care resident and employee for the virus.

In the first three weeks of May, by contrast, Wolf ’s Department of Health has reported the results of about 140,000 tests among all residents statewide.

“This is a massive lift and it’s great for a sound bite, but it’s not quite clear that it’s actually doable,” said Dr. David Nace, medical director of UPMC Senior Communities and the president of The Society for Post-Acute and LongTerm Care Medicine.

Given the extreme cost and demands on staff, Nace said, it makes more sense to routinely test the highest-risk people, such as those residents going in and out of facilities for things like dialysis or medical procedures.

The American Health Care Association, a nursing home trade group, estimated that it would cost $22 million for a one-time test of about 148,000 nursing home residents and staff in Pennsylvania.

Dr. Jennifer Stephens, who helped launch a network of community testing centers as chief medical officer of Lehigh Valley Health Network’s physician group, cited numerous logistical and operational hurdles standing in the way of such an ambitious testing regime.

Long-term care facilities will need to have a sufficient and steady supply of tests, enough trained staff to administer them on a weekly basis, and a plan to deal with increased numbers of workers and residents who are positive for the virus, Stephens said.

The biggest bottleneck of all, she said, could be at the laboratories that process the tests, especially if businesses and other organizations start their own virus testing initiatives as the state’s battered economy gradually reopens.

The state health secretary, Dr. Rachel Levine, said Thursday that nursing homes struggling with high numbers of infections will be prioritized for weekly testing, “and then we’ll be looking to test all of the patients and all of the staff throughout the state.”

She offered few details about how that’ll be accomplished, other than to say that “our testing capacity has increased significantly,” doubling since early May. But Zach Shamberg, president and CEO of the Pennsylvania Health Care Association, a nursing home trade organization, questioned whether sufficient capacity exists in Pennsylvania to do the kind of testing that Wolf has promised.

UPMC’s Nace agreed. “First and foremost is there’s not enough tests to do it,” he said.

There’s also the question of funding. If nursing homes must pay for the testing, Shamberg said, the financial burden will fall on front-line providers that are already underfunded.

Wolf said the funding will come from Pennsylvania’s share of the massive federal coronavirus relief law signed

by President Donald Trump in late March. Competing bills to appropriate the federal money are working their way through the state House and Senate, each steering about $500 million to nursing homes, longterm care facilities and programs for the elderly.

It’s unclear when a bill might reach Wolf’s desk.

But nursing homes want to use that federal aid to cover other coronavirus-related costs. Marles, with the nursing home group, said the state should instead draw from another pot of federal money intended specifically to boost state testing efforts.

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Sunday, July 19, 2020

JOHN LEWIS 1940-2020

Civil rights leader, lawmaker dies at 80

UNCOVERING COVID-19

DEATHS DON’T ADD UP

John Lewis died Friday after a months-long battle with cancer.

Disparities abound in reporting nursing home virus deaths

BY CALVIN WOODWARD AND DESIREE SEALS ASSOCIATED PRESS

ATLANTA — John Lewis, a lion of the civil rights movement whose bloody beating by Alabama state troopers in 1965 helped galvanize opposition to racial segregation, and who went on to a long and celebrated career in Congress, has died.

He was 80.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi confirmed LewLEWIS is’ passing late Friday night, calling him “one of the greatest heroes of American history.”

“All of us were humbled to call Congressman Lewis a colleague, and are heartbroken by his passing,” Pelosi said. “May his memory be an inspiration that moves us all to, in the face of injustice, make ‘good trouble, necessary trouble.’”

The condolences for Lewis were bipartisan. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Lewis was “a pioneering civil rights leader who put his life on the line to fight racism, promote equal rights, and bring our nation into greater alignment with its founding principles. ” Lewis’s announcement in late December 2019 that he had been diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer — “I have never faced a fight quite like the one I have now,” he said — inspired tributes from both sides of the aisle, and an unstated accord that the likely passing of this Atlanta Democrat would represent the end of an era.

R

“

We want to make sure everyone, as best as possible, lives through the crisis.

It’s important we know the actual death count at a facility. We need hard, reliable figures on an ongoing basis.

BRIAN LEE

Families For Better Care

ABOUT THE PROJECT

eporting on the number of COVID-19 deaths of Northeast Pennsylvania nursing home and other long-term care facility residents continues to be inaccurate, despite May federal and state mandates that sought to address issues.

The mandates, which came in response to public outcry for more information, sought to centralize data collection. Death counts continue to vary widely, however, depending on who is counting: the state, federal government, county coroner, or the facilities.

Officials say the disparities are tied to several factors, including differences in reporting methods, confusion over how to categorize deaths and because some facilities are not complying with the weekly reporting mandate to the state Department of Health. There’s also a continued dispute over whether persons who live in one county, but die in another, should be counted in their home county or county of death.

“The data is all over the map,” said Brian Lee, executive director of Families For Better Care, a Florida-based advocacy group for nursing home residents and their families. “From week to week we don’t know what’s the truth.”

As of Tuesday, Luzerne County Coroner Frank Hacken reported 182 total virus-related deaths, of which 124 involved long term care facility residents. Of those 124 deaths, 111 were among nursing home residents, and the remainder were from other long-term care facilities.

DOH countywide statistics for Luzerne County showed 181 COVID-19 related deaths as of Tuesday, with nursing homes and personal care home residents accounting for 128 of those deaths — nearly 70% of the county’s virus deaths.

This is the latest in a series of investigative reports by The Citizens' Voice and the Times-Tribune of Scranton. Today we examine nursing homes' COVID-19 reporting and the impact in Luzerne and Lackawanna counties.

Please see LEWIS, Page A6

BY STEVE MOCARSKY AND TERRIE MORGAN BESECKER STAFF WRITERS

Please see DEATHS, Page A4

ADVE RTISE M E NT

CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

As virus surges, hospitals swamped Patients are being treated in hallways and emergency wards.

BY JAY REEVES ASSOCIATED PRESS

DAVID J. PHILLIP / ASSOCIATED PRESS

Registered nurses Army Lt. Col. Oswaldo Martinez, left, and Maj. Andrew Wieher, right, with the Urban Augmentation Medical Task Force, work to set up a nurses station inside a wing at United Memorial Medical Center in Houston on Thursday.

units are full, officials say, and the near-constant care they require is overtaxing workers who also are treating more typical ER cases like chest pains, infections, and fractures.

In Texas, Dr. Alison Haddock of the Baylor College of Medicine said the current situation is worse than after Hurr i c a n e H a r ve y, wh i c h swamped Houston with floodwaters in 2017. The state reported a new daily record for virus deaths Friday and more than 10,000 confirmed cases for the fourth consecutive day.

A fast-rising tide of new coronavirus cases is flooding emergency rooms in parts of the United States, with some patients moved into hallways and nurses working extra shiftstokeepupwiththesurge.

Patients struggling to breathe are being placed on ventilators in emergency wards since intensive care Please see HOSPITALS, Page A6

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FROM PAGE A1

A4 THE CITIZENS' VOICE

SuNday, July 19, 2020

DEATHS: Agencies confident that majority of data is accurate FROM PaGE a1

But state data provided for each facility show that nursing homes and personal care homes reported between 89 and 97 COVID-19 deaths; 80 to 83 of the deaths were at nursing homes, while the remainder were at personal care homes.

There is a range in the number of deaths because the state doesn’t report the exact number of deaths at facilities with fewer than five to protect patient privacy.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), meanwhile, reports just 56 deaths of Luzerne County nursing home residents as of July 5, the latest date for which data is available. The agency does not track deaths at personal care homes.

But that CMS count is based on deaths at nursing homes the state considers to be in Luzerne County. The DOH recognizes Berwick Retirement Village as being in Columbia County, but Hacken reported seven COVID-19 deaths there, as a portion of it is situated in Luzerne County. CMS reported 18 COVID-19 deaths there.

There’s also a wide disparity in Lackawanna County figures.

DOH statistics show 211 COVID-19 related deaths as of Tuesday, with nursing home and personal care home residents accounting for 209 of the deaths — a staggering 99% of the county’s virus deaths.

Not so, says Lackawanna County Coroner Tim Rowland. His death count stood at 235 as of Tuesday, of which 175 people either died at a long term care facility or were residents at a home and died after being admitted to a hospital. That equals 74% of the county’s virus-related deaths.

CMS, meanwhile, reports just 132 deaths of Lackawanna County nursing home residents as of July 5.

Accuracy ‘crucial’ The dizzying array of numbers has frustrated advocates for nursing home residents and their families.

“We want to make sure everyone, as best as possible, lives through the crisis,” Lee said. “It’s important we know the actual death count at a facility. We need hard, reliable figures on an ongoing basis.”

Diane Menio, executive director of the Center for Advocacy for the Rights & Interests of the Elderly in Philadelphia, said accurate information in crucial in ensuring families make the best decision.

“You might want to know how many cases they have and how are they doing with infection control before you make the decision of where mom or dad should go,” Menio said. “People should have all information they can possibly have to make that decision.”

Lee said there are data collection issues with every agency, but the CMS data is particularly suspect as it has been shown over the past few weeks to be highly inaccurate for multiple homes nationwide.

For instance, in its June 8 report, CMS said St. Mary’s Villa in Elmhurst had 114 virus-related deaths as of May 31 when in reality it had

19. The July 16 CMS report also contains errors, reporting Allied Services Skilled Nursing Center in Scranton had 10 deaths as of July 5.

Rowland and the facility each reported 51 deaths as of July 5, and 52 as of July 14.

The same CMS report also says Mountain View Care and Rehabilitation Center in Peckville had 54 deaths, but Rowland reports 27, and the facility, 32. There’s also a discrepancy at St. Mary’s Villa in Elmhurst. CMS says it had 25 virus-related deaths, but the facility reports 20 and Rowland, 19.

Agencies confident Lorraine Ryan, a spokesperson for CMS, said the agency believes the vast majority of the data it reports is accurate, but acknowledged there have been some data collection issues that led to incorrect information being reported.

The agency is working to identify reporting issues that cause the errors, she said.

Ryan also noted some homes only reported deaths that occurred as of the May 17 mandate to report figures.

Virus-related deaths were occurring for at least several months before then, but CMS did not have the authority to order homes to provide retroactive data, although some voluntarily did so, she said.

Rowland said he’s confident his figures are the most accurate. In most cases his data comes from death certificates filed by treating physicians. He’s also gathered information from medical records, and takes extra care to determine if persons who die at hospitals lived at a nursing/personal care home prior to admission.

Nate Wardle, a spokesman for the De par tment of Health, said the department is equally confident its figures are accurate. The data is culled from lab reports submitted through the National Electronic Data Surveillance System (NEDSS), a database that tracts infectious diseases.

The department also gets death reports from the Electronic Death Registration System (EDRS), a program utilized by all hospitals and physicians to report COVID-19 deaths. The department regularly matches cases and death reports to ensure its data is accurate and updated, he said.

Wardle said the discrepancy between what DOH and what county coroners report for the total number of all COVID-19 deaths is partly due to the fact the state counts the death in the county people reside, even if they die in another county.

Rowland is highly critical of DOH’s policy on that matter. He believes the county of death is more important for analyzing the impact of the virus, particularly for nursing home residents, because that’s most likely where they contracted it.

“You have someone who came to a nursing home and lived there for years. They contracted the disease there, they died from the disease there, yet we associate them with another county,” Rowland said. “I’m not sure what value that data has.”

As for discre pancies between the DOH numbers and figures nursing homes and long term care facilities report, Wardle said that may

This Week’s Grocery Insert Schedule.

Insert on Sunday y, July y 19th

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No Insert on Thursday, July 23rd

Luzerne County COVID-19 nursing home deaths Nursing home Allied Services Center City Skilled Nurisng, Wilkes-Barre Allied Services Meade Street Skilled Nursing, Wilkes-Barre Berwick Retirement Village, Berwick/Salem Township Birchwood Healthcare and Rehab. Center, Nanticoke Bonham Nursing Center, Stillwater The Gardens at East Mountain, Plains Twp. The Gardens at Wyoming Valley, Wilkes-Barre Guardian Healthcare and Rehab. Center, Newport Twp. Hampton House, Hanover Twp. Heinz Transitional Rehabilitation Unit, Wilkes-Barre Twp. Highland Manor Rehab. and Nursing Center, Exeter Kadima Rehabilitation & Nursing at Lakeside, Harveys Lake Kadima Rehabilitation & Nursing at Luzerne, Butler Twp. Kingston Health Care Center The Manor at St. Luke Village, Hazleton ManorCare Health Services-Kingston Meadows Nursing and Rehab. Center, Dallas Mercy Center Nursing Unit, Dallas Twp. Mountain City Nursing & Rehab. Center, Hazle Twp. Mountain Top Healathcare and Rehab. Center, Wright Twp. The Pavilion at Saint Luke Village, Hazleton River Run Healthcare And Rehab. Center, Kingston Riverstreet Manor, Wilkes-Barre Smith Health Care, Wright Twp. Timber Ridge Health Center, Plains Twp. Wesley Village, Jenkins Twp. Total DOH - Pa. Department of Health as of July 14 Coroner - Luzerne County Coroner's Office as of July 14 CMS - Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services as of July 5 be due to the fact nursing homes do not report data to the NEDSS, but through a special online tool designed specifically for them. That can lead to discrepancies, he said.

“In some situations, a number in our table may represent an individual who is being counted as a case for the purposes of the department, but the facility may count them differently,” he said.

For instance, if a long term care resident is transferred from the facility and dies at a hospital, DOH includes that death in the facility’s total death count, Wardle said.

Zach Shamberg, executive director of the Pennsylvania Health Care Association, a trade group for the nursing home industry, said facilities initially got conflicting information regarding that matter, which may have led to some discrepancies. The DOH did not clarify the reporting requirement until June 2.

Non-reporting facilities The DOH also continues to have difficulty in getting nursing homes and personal care homes to report data at all.

A review of statistics show that in the report released July 14, 131 of the states 693 nursing homes, or 19%, did not report data to the DOH. The Gardens at Wyoming Valley in Wilkes-Bar re reported no case or death data, according to the DOH. But the coroner’s office recorded five COVID-19 deaths there, and CMS r e p o r t e d 2 3 C OV I D - 1 9 deaths.

Multiple attempts to reach the nursing home administrator and corporate office for The Gardens were unsuccessful. The a d m i n i s t r at o r d i d n o t return messages left with the receptionist last week.

Other examples include: ■ Birchwood Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center in Nanticoke, which reported no COVID-19 data to the state, according to the DOH, while the coroner’s office recorded five deaths there and CMS reported none.

■ North Penn Manor, a personal care home in Kingston, re por ted no deaths to the state, according to the Department of Human Services, but the coroner’s office recorded seven there.

Judy Lee, owner of North Penn Manor, said the facility has been reporting COVID-19 data to the DHS, and she said she doesn’t know why the data isn’t showing up in the state report.

Reported by Reported by Reported by DOH Coroner CMS 0 0 0 0 0 0 No data 7 18 No data 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 No data 5 23 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 No data 0 No data 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 <5 5 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 11 9 10 18 21 No data 0 0 0 No data 0 0 23 23 19 0 0 0 27 27 0 0 0 0 80-84 103 74

Luzerne County COVID-19 LTCF deaths Long-term care facility Allied Services Meade Street Residence, Wilkes-Barre North Penn Manor, Wilkes-Barre Providence Place of Hazleton, Butler Township Tiffany Court at Kingston Total DHS - Pa. Department of Human Services as of July 14 Coroner - Luzerne County Coroner's Office as of July 14

‘You might want to know how many cases they have and how are they doing with infection control before you make the decision of where mom or dad should go. People should have all information they can possibly have to make that decision.’

DIANE MENIO

Center for advocacy for the Rights & Interests of the Elderly

Spokespersons for two Lackawanna County nursing homes — Riverstreet Manor in Taylor and MidValley Health Care Center in Peckville — say the DOH also incorrectly reported they did not report their data in its July 14 report.

Andrew Benson, a spokesman for Riverstreet Manor, and Nancy Istenes, spokesperson for Mid-Valley, insisted they have complied with the reporting requirements.

Shamberg said long term care facilities are doing the best they can to comply, but they continue to face techn o l o g i c a l d i f f i c u l t i e s, including being unable to log into the DOH system.

PHCA wants to do away with other county and statewide reporting systems and focus on a single, nationwide system that would have uniform definitions for every home to follow.

Lee, of Families for Better Care, also advocates for a single reporting system. He can’t understand why that has not happened yet.

“Get this figured out,” Lee said, addressing state and federal officials. “You need to sit down and collect and untangle this mess and get a clear figure. … This should not be rocket science.”

Contact the writer: smocarsky@citizensvoice.com 570-821-2110; @MocarskyCV

Reported by Reported by DHS Coroner 7 8 No data 7 <5 2 <5 5 9 to 15 22

SEaN MCKEaG / STaFF PHOTOGRaPHER

The Gardens at Wyoming Valley in Wilkes-Barre reported no COVID-19 cases or deaths, according to the state Department of Health, but the Luzerne County Coroner reports five deaths there, while the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reported 23.

SEaN MCKEaG / STaFF PHOTOGRaPHER

Timber Ridge Health Care Center in Plains Twp. has the highest number of COVID-19 deaths in county nursing homes at 27, according to the coroner’s office and the Department of Health.

daVE SCHERBENCO / STaFF PHOTOGRaPHER

Riverstreet Manor in Wilkes-Barre had 23 COVID-19 deaths according to the state department of health and the county coroner’s office. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reported 19 deaths.

voice

the citizens’

COMBAT FATIGUE Many front-line health care workers battling COVID-19 are on the verge of collapse. A13

SWAMPED HOSPITALS SEEK PANDEMIC HELP. A5

Thursday, December 3, 2020

NEWSSTAND 50¢

Spat takes local TV station off air DIRECTV drops WNEP from lineup; DISH, WBRE parent company in brewing contract battle.

A LACK OF DATA

BY BOB KALINOWSKI STAFF WRITER

MARK MORAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has fined two nursing homes in Luzerne County — Kadima Rehabilitation & Nursing at Lakeside in Dallas and Kadima Rehabilitation & Nursing at Luzerne in Drums.

Nursing homes still failing to report COVID-19 data to state

BY TERRIE MORGAN-BESECKER AND STEVE MOCARSKY STAFF WRITERS

Seven months after the state ordered nursing homes to report COVID-19 cases, dozens of homes statewide, including several in Luzerne County, have repeatedly failed to abide by the order, a review of state data shows.

Lackawanna County facilities are more compliant, with only a handful of homes occasionally miss-

ing reporting mandates in the past two months.

The state Department of Health requires nursing homes to report weekly the cumulative total of COVID-19 positive residents and staff and resident deaths from May to date. It continues to struggle to get all homes to comply, however.

A review of reports shows that, on average, roughly 100 of the state’s 693 nursing homes failed to report figures in one or

more weeks from Sept. 28 to Dec. 1, the latest time period for which full data was available.

Two of the 25 homes in Luzerne County, The Gardens at Wyoming Valley and Timber Ridge Health Care Center, both in Wilkes-Barre, did not report any data in any of the nine weeks. Kadima Rehabilitation and Nursing at Lakeside in Dallas did not report data in eight of the nine weeks. Attempts to reach officials at the three

homes for comment were unsuccessful.

In Lackawanna County, several of the 17 facilities, including Lackawanna Health and Rehab Center, Linwood Nursing and Rehabilitation Center and Dunmore Health Care Center missed two or more reporting dates through Nov. 18. All 17 homes corrected that deficiency and reported figures for the two most recent reports on Nov. 25 and Dec. 1.

Lori Mayer, a spokesper-

son for Linwood, said it reported data every week.

It is checking with the state to see if there was a glitch in the reporting system. An official with Dunmore Health Care said it continues to work with the state to follow reporting guidelines. Lackawanna Health Care did not respond to a request for comment.

St. Mary’s Villa nursing home in Elmhurst Twp. is Please see DATA, Page A10

Retirement village resident wants more COVID-19 info Resident was shocked to learn of Wesley Village outbreak.

BY STEVE MOCARSKY STAFF WRITER

A resident at the Wesley Village retirement community said she wants staff to communicate more information about a COVID-19 outbreak there that has continued to grow over the past week.

Marilyn Alvator, a resi-

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dent in the retirement community in Jenkins Twp., which has been reporting positive cases of COVID-19 among residents and staff as well as COVID-related deaths to state and federal agencies as required, said she doesn’t feel like the administration has been providing adequate commu-

nication with residents there about COVID-19.

“We were all shocked when we read about the extent of the outbreak in the nursing home,” Alvator, 71, said, referring to a story DAVE SCHERBENCO / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER in Tuesday’s edition reportThe nursing home at Wesley Village in Jenkins Twp. ing that the nursing facility Please see INFO, Page A10

experienced a significant outbreak of COVID-19 that began Nov. 6.

DIRECTV customers in the area currently can’t watch WNEP-TV due to a contract dispute between the two parties that resulted in the network being pulled from the satellite television provider’s list of stations.

Meanwhile, it appears the parent company of WBRE-TV, which also operates WYOU-TV, is in a brewing contract fight with DISH Network as well.

Of ficials with WNEP took to social media to announce its position, prompting a stern response from a spokesperson for DIRECTV. “To our DIRECTV custo mer s, unfor tunat ely, despite our best efforts DIRECTV has refused to reach a fair, market-based agreement with WNEP, and as a result WNEP is currently not available on DIRECTV. Over the past few years, we’ve reached hundreds of deals with cable and satellite providers all across the country,” the WNEP statement posted on Facebook said.

The WNEP post said DIRECTV “is taking away your access to your favorite ABC programming, including The Bachelorette, The Good Doctor, Grey’s Anatomy, Shark Tank, and Saturday college football games as well as your local news, weather and sports.”

Please see TV, Page A9

Britain OKs Pfizer virus vaccine Nation could begin dispensing shots within days.

LOCAL IMPACT Nine more deaths, 212 new virus cases reported in Luzerne County on Wednesday. A10

BY LAURAN NEERGAARD AND DANICA KIRKA ASSOCIATED PRESS

LONDON — Britain became the first country in the world to authorize a rigorously tested COVID-19 vaccine Wednesday and could be dispensing shots within days — a historic

step toward eventually ending the outbreak that has killed more than 1.4 million people around the globe.

In giving the go-ahead for emergency use of the vac-

cine developed by American drugmaker Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech, Britain vaulted past the United States by at least a week.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is not scheduled to consider the vaccine until Dec. 10.

“This is a day to remember, frankly, in a year to forget,” British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said.

Please see VACCINE, Page A10

KIRSTY WIGGLESWORTH / ASSOCIATED PRES

Britain’s Health Secretary Matt Hancock gestures as he arrives at Downing Street in London on Wednesday.

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LOCAL / NATION

A10 THE CITIZENS' VOICE

W-B mayor orders more virus protocols, restrictions

BY STEVE MOCARSKY STaFF WrITEr

Responding to a recent surge in coronavirus infections, Wilkes-Barre Mayor George Brown on Wednesday announced new safety protocols and restrictions for city facilities.

Beginning Thursday, public access to the Department of Public Works headquarters, city fire stations and police department headquarters will be restricted.

Also effective Thursday, the following strict safety protocols will be instituted to enhance the protection of city hall employees and residents visiting there: ■ All visitors and employees must enter the building from the parking lot/rear entrance of the building.

■ Proper mask use, temperature checks, symptom evaluation and travel screen-

BROWN ing will be conducted for anyone entering City Hall.

■ There will be no public access to City Hall restrooms.

■ Visitors will be restricted to access for services on the first floor only. City staff will assist visitors seeking s e r v i c e s f ro m s e c o n d through fourth-floor offices, as the city continues to provide full services during the pandemic. City Hall hours

remain Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., excluding holidays.

■ All visitors and employees must exit City Hall through the Market Street doors.

CityMark Credit Union members must use the Washington Street entrance to both enter and exit when doing transactions. CityMark suggests that members utilize the drive-thru at their new office at 225 S. River St., Plains Twp. Residents are encouraged to utilize the city’s secure payment drop-off box, located outside the Washington Street entrance. Residents requesting a receipt for payments should include a selfaddressed, stamped envelope.

No cash will be accepted.

Checks and money orders made payable to the City of Wilkes-Barre will be accept-

ed for payment of city property tax, parking tickets, quality of life violation tickets, city recycling fees and city sewer maintenance fees.

Checks and Money Orders made payable to the Wyom i n g Va l l e y S a n i t a r y Authority (WVSA) will be accepted for payment of WVSA sewage treatment fees.

Additionally, parking tickets can be paid online at www.epay.cityhallsystems. com. City recycling fees, city sewer maintenance fees and WVSA fees can also be paid online at www.wvsa.org.

Payments can also be sent to Wilkes-Barre City Tax Office, 40 E. Market St., Wilkes-Barre, PA 18711. The postmark date will be accepted as the payment date.

Contact the writer: smocarsky@citizensvoice.com 570-821-2110, @mocarskyCV

DATA: Some nursing homes not reporting FrOm PaGE a1

among the Lackawanna County homes that has reported data each week.

Nancy Newcomb, the facility’s president, said she’s strived to be as transparent as possible.

“Being honest with the press, our residents and their families provides everyone with a sense of trust,” she said.

Lori Smetanka, executive director for the National Consumer Voice for Quality L o n g - Te r m C a r e, s a i d homes that fail to report data are “fostering distrust within the community.”

“Families are frantic because they don’t know what some of these facilities are facing,” Smetanka said. “It’s irresponsible not to be reporting.”

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services also requires nursing homes to report data and has begun fining those that do not comply.

CMS recently fined 65 homes in Pennsylvania $ 1 8 9 , 0 5 0 fo r f a i l i n g t o report, including Kadima at Lakeside and its sister facility, Kadima at Luzerne in Drums. The Dallas facility was fined $6,500, while the Drums facility was fined $650, according to CMS. Brian Lee, executive director of Families for Better Care, a nursing home resident advocacy group, said the state also needs to crack down on non-compliant homes.

“For them to be stalling this long is frustrating to families and residents,” Lee

marK mOraN / STaFF PHOTOGraPHEr

Kadima Rehabilitation & Nursing at Lakeside in Dallas was fined $6,500 by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for failing to report data.

‘For them to be stalling this long is frustrating to families and residents. The federal government understands the seriousness of this situation. It’s time the state does as well.’

BRIAN LEE

Families for better Care executive director

said. “The federal government understands the seriousness of this situation.

It’s time the state does as well.”

Nate Wardle, a spokesman for the health department, said it has not issued any citations because officials do not believe there is an outright refusal to comply, but rather confusion over reporting requirements.

A spokesperson for the nursing home industry said facilities are trying to comply with the mandate, but they have repeatedly faced obstacles.

Anne Henry, senior vice

Day. On the federal level, it can take weeks for CMS to respond to a problem with reporting data.

“Whenever there’s an issue signing on, there’s no person to call,” she said.

“They have to send an email to a general email box, wait a week, send another message, wait a week. It’s not been an easy process.”

Wardle acknowledged nursing homes have faced some issues with reporting.

The health department has held a number of webinars to address the problems. It re m a i n s c o m m i t t e d t o working with facilities.

“The number of facilities that are not reporting has decreased, and we are working to continue that trend,” he said. “We are also working to figure out what the concerns there are and how we can assist them.”

president and chief government affairs officer for Leading Age PA, said facilities are required to report three separate sets of data on three different software platforms — one set to CMS and two sets to the state.

That’s extremely time consuming and takes away from patient care.

“It may be that when they’re not able to (report) it’s because they’re providing patient care,” Henry said. “When there’s an outbreak, it’s all hands on deck.”

Henry noted the state’s Contact the writer: online platform has had smocarsky@citizensvoice.com outages since around Labor 570-821-2110, @mocarskyCV

INFO: Resident surprised to learn of outbreak FrOm PaGE a1

on the campus went from having zero residents test positive for COVID-19 as of Nov. 10 to 71 residents testing positive as of Nov. 25.

The facility reported another 18 positive cases in a report released Wednesday, and the total number of COVID-related deaths there doubled from five to 10.

Alvator, a Plains Twp. native who who retired from working in military hospitals with the U.S. Army’s Medical Service Corps for more than 20 years, said she’s been “basically very happy” living on the retirement campus for the past six years, but she’s familiar with infection control issues and

thinks village staff should be reporting cumulative numbers of COVID-positive residents to all residents on the campus.

“This is mostly seniors here. Most of them are very afraid. The more information, the better,” Alvator said.

“Then people aren’t going to be listening to all these crazy rumors, because that’s what’s happening.”

Daniele Janesky, executive director of Wesley Village Campus, said in an emailed response that throughout this pandemic, United Methodist Homes’ Wesley Village Campus made a commitment to communicating with residents and families by investing in a platform that enables them to provide

“timely, regular and pertinent updates to all residents by level of care and facility in which they reside in on our campus.”

“Our communications practice across the organization not only meets but exceeds the requirements and is in compliance with any regulations,” Janesky said.

While there is no set requirement regarding communication to independent living residents who reside in a distinct and separate facility from the nursing home, Janesky said the administration believes in the importance of transparency.

“Therefore, in addition to their facility-specific weekly

updates, we provided them with information about the outbreak in the nursing home along with follow up communications and measures we are taking to prevent the spread,” Janesky said.

The campus also has liaisons dedicated “to enhance communications with residents and have always encouraged any resident to reach out to us should they need any more information or have questions or concerns,” she said.

Janesky said the administration continues to receive positive feedback about the level of communication.

Contact the writer: smocarsky@citizensvoice.com 570-821-2110, @mocarskyCV

Wednesday, said Robert Lunsford of the American Meteor Society in Geneseo. By 5 p.m., the organization had recorded 90 reports of the fireball seen in Maryland, Michigan, New York, Ontario, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

Police agencies and fire departments around central New York received 911 calls reporting a boom that shook windows, but clouds prevent-

ed sightings in much of the area. Since most reports of the boom were around Syracuse, that’s likely where the meteor blew to bits, Lunsford said.

“We tend to notice fireballs more at night because they stand out better, but it’s not terribly unusual for very bright ones to be noticed during the day. It happens several times a year over populated areas,” said Margaret

Campbell-Brown, a member of the Meteor Physics Group at Western University in London, Ontario.

All fireballs, which are bright meteors, produce sound waves, sometimes detectable only by sensitive microphones, CampbellBrown said by email. A large one may produce a thunderlike sonic boom with possible extra bangs from fragmentation, she said.

Midday fireball thrills gazers from Ontario to Va. aSSOCIaTEd PrESS

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — A noontime boom that was heard and felt from southern Ontario to Virginia was likely caused by a disintegrating meteor, according to an organization in western New York that keeps track of such phenomena.

Witnesses across the area reported hearing the boom or seeing a fireball in the sky sho r tly after no on on

THurSday, dECEmbEr 3, 2020

COVID-19 in NEPA community health district Cases Fatalities

Susquehanna

Wayne

636 32

Wyoming

480 25

585 12

Lackawanna

Pike

5,365 232

883 26

Luzerne

10,098 294

Schuylkill

4,253 181

monroe

3,557 153

Carbon

1,421 57

Northampton

Lehigh

11,868 387

9,444 337

9 more deaths, 212 new virus cases in county STaFF rEPOrT

The state Department of H e a l t h o n We d n e s d ay reported another 212 COVID-19 cases in Luzer ne County and 9 additional deaths.

T he county has now experienced 10,098 cases and 294 deaths attributed to the disease.

A total of 111 people are hospitalized with the illness in Luzerne County, with 25 adults in intensive care and eight on ventilators.

Statewide, there were another 8,291 new cases for a total of 375,431.

T h e re we re 1 9 4 n ew deaths and there have been 10,757 total deaths attributed to COVID-19 across the state.

There are 4,744 individuals hospitalized with COVID-19; of that number, 967 patients are in the intensive care unit with COVID-19.

The number of tests administered within the last 7 days between Nov. 25 and Dec. 1 is 371,101 with 46,070 positive cases. There were 52,244 test results reported to the department through 10 p.m., December 1.

Patients who think they have symptoms of COVID-19 should call their primary care physician or call the Geisinger COVID-19 hotline at 570-284-3657 to learn more about symptoms or how to get tested.

In addition, Rite Aid,

COVID-19 BY THE NUMBERS a quick glance at the global spread of the coronavirus as of dec. 2.

World cases 64,360,815 (up from 63,751,931 on dec. 1)

World deaths 1,489,816 (up from 1,477,976 on dec. 1)

United States cases 13,900,350 (up from 13,706,356 on dec. 1)

United States deaths 273,170 (up from 270,450 on dec. 1) — NUMBERS REPORTED AS OF 6:26 P.M. WEDNESDAY FROM JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY

EDITOR’S NOTE: The Johns Hopkins university website relies upon publicly available data from multiple sources that do not always agree. more frequent updates of the map often result in higher case numbers than may be available from other sources that are updated less frequently.

located at 20 S. River St., Plains Twp., is providing tests. Patients must pre-register at rite-aid.com.

VACCINE: Several tough months ahead FrOm PaGE a1

The announcement sets the stage for the biggest vaccination campaign in British history and came just ahead of what experts are warning will be a long, dark winter, with the coronavirus surging to epic levels in recent weeks in the U.S. and Europe.

Officials cautioned that several tough months still lie ahead even in Britain, given the monumental task of inoculating large swaths of the population. Because of the limited initial supply, the first shots will be reserved for those most in danger, namely nursing home patients, the elderly and health care workers.

Britain’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency recommended the vaccine after clinical trials involving tens of thousands of volunteers showed it was 95% effective and turned up no serious side effects. The vaccine is still considered experimental while final testing is done.

“This is an unprecedented piece of science,” given that the vaccine was authorized less than a year after the virus was discovered, said David Harper, senior consulting fellow in global health at the Chatham House think tank.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson declared that the “searchlights of science” had picked out the “invisible enemy,” which has been blamed for

close to 60,000 deaths in Britain. He said that in developing the vaccine, scientists had performed “biological jujitsu” by turning the virus on itself.

Other countries aren’t far behind: Regulators not only in the U.S. but in the European Union and Canada also are vetting the Pfizer vaccine along with a shot made by Moderna.

British and Canadian regulators are also considering a vaccine made by AstraZeneca and Oxford University.

Amid growing concern in the U.S. that Americans will greet vaccines with skepticism, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said Britain’s decision “should give Americans additional confidence in the quality of such a vaccine.” The virus has killed more than 270,000 in the U.S. Hancock said Britain will begin receiving the first shipment of 800,000 doses from Belgium within days, and people will start getting the shots as soon as it arrives. Two doses three weeks apar t are required.

BioNTech, which owns the vaccine, said it has so far signed deals to supply 570 million doses worldwide in 2021, with options to deliver 600 million more. It hopes to supply at least 1.3 billion in 2021.

That is only a fraction of what will be needed as public health officials try to vaccinate much of the world’s population.