Nursing homes have played an unwelcome central role in the coronavirus pandemic, with more than half of the outbreak’s deaths in Massachusetts taking place at a long-term care facility.
Testing all of the state’s roughly 37,000 nursing home residents — with testing a key step for safe resumption of normal operations — would not be cheap, though, according to a study by the American Health Care Association.
The group, which has advocated for federal financial aid for such testing, has estimated testing all Massachusetts nursing home residents would cost roughly $13 million. That factors in both the number of residents at each of the state’s 376 such facilities and the nearly 50,000 who work there.
Nationwide, the cost balloons to $440 million, the Washington, D.C.-based association said. More than 1.3 million Americans live in a nursing home, the group estimates, and 1.6 million work in one. The total, the association said, does not include the cost to test residents and staff at assisted living and other long-term care facilities.
The American Health Care Association said it has asked the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for a $10-billion emergency relief to help fund expedited testing and the additional staffing needed to respond to the crisis.
Long-term care facilities in general have been hard hit in Massachusetts, according to the state Department of Public Health.
Nearly 20,000 residents or healthcare workers at long-term care facilities have tested positive for coronavirus. In all, 347 such facilities, or more than 90%, have reported at least one virus case. More than 60% of Massachusetts coronavirus deaths have taken place at a long-term care facility, or nearly 4,000.
