Another 125 people at New Jersey’s longterm care facilities have died from the coronavirus, state officials reported Saturday — and Gov. Phil Murphy said the option of dispatching the state’s National Guard to help the beleaguered centers remains “on the table.”
There have now been at least 10,163 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 1,655 related deaths across the state’s 413 longterm care centers, which includes nursing homes, veterans homes, and similar facilities.
The 125 new deaths mark more than half of the total new coronavirus-related deaths state officials announced Saturday.
In all, about 12% of the state’s 81,420 total COVID-19 cases and about 41% of the state’s 4,070 total related deaths have been at longterm care facilities — even though nursing-home residents make up a tiny percentage of New Jersey’s 9 million-resident population.
The disproportionate toll gained added attention this past week after authorities discovered 17 dead bodies at a nursing home in Sussex County following a request for body bags and an anonymous tip about a body being loaded into a shed.
There were 38 deaths at Andover Subacute and Rehabilitation Center I and II as of Saturday, state officials confirmed to NJ Advance Media.
The facility’s owner has “received several citations” and is required to submit “a plan of correction” Monday, state Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli said during the state’s daily coronavirus press briefing in Trenton on Saturday.
That, Persichilli said, includes instituting an on-site infection prevention specialist, chief nurse officer, and administrative manager at the facility.
This comes after an out-of-state survey team examined the facility, which has been beset by health and care deficiencies for years, according to records.
Persichilli said survey teams also visited four other nursing homes Friday and will visit another 11 over the weekend.
The health commissioner also said officials are also holding a conference call Saturday to “develop a strategy” for coronavirus testing at nursing homes. That comes after reports there has been a shortage of tests at the facilities, despite the outbreaks.
“More to come on that, but it is a priority,” Persichilli said.
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Meanwhile, a prominent geriatric physician on Friday called on Murphy to send in the National Guard to help address a “staffing crisis” inside nursing homes across the state.
Murphy already dispatched the the National Guard to distribute personal protective equipment and food and help assemble field hospitals in New Jersey during the outbreak.
In a letter to Murphy, David Barile, the medical director of Geriatric and Palliative Services at UPENN Hospital of Princeton and founder of Goals of Care Coalition of New Jersey, said Murphy needed to to the same with nursing homes.
Murphy acknowledged Saturday that officials have been asked about the National Guard.
“That continues to be an option on the table," the governor said.
Murphy said this week he was “outraged” by the situation at the Andover facility and announced the state attorney general would launch an investigation into the matter.
The facility’s owner blamed the crammed storage of the bodies and the number of deaths to a holiday weekend “backup” and “more than average deaths."
Murphy on Saturday declined to name other nursing homes that have had issues during the outbreak.
“I won’t get into the bad apples today,” the governor said. “I was hoping at some point we could celebrate the good apples. Not everyone is ignoring their responsibility.”
NJ Advance Media staff writer Susan K. Livio contributed to this report.
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Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @johnsb01.
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