May 12, 2020 3 min read

Pennsylvania will conduct mass COVID-19 testing at all long-term care homes, some of which have been overwhelmed by cases of the virus.

State health Secretary Rachel Levine said an advisory was sent Tuesday to these facilities, including personal care homes, to draft a schedule for the testing of staff and residents to get a “head start” on the further spread of the virus.

Levine said mass testing at these locations was delayed because “we have not had the testing capabilities,” that supplies have been difficult to find over the past two weeks.

The state deployed the National Guard on Monday to Brighton Rehabilitation and Wellness Center nursing home, a facility in Beaver County that has the worst COVID-19 outbreak in the state. The outbreak there has been responsible for more than 70 deaths, reports suggest.

“This had to be brought in by the staff,” Levine said, while urging friends and relatives of these residents to refrain from visiting them during the pandemic.

Levine’s comments came after state Sen. Doug Mastriano, R-Franklin County, called for Levine’s resignation while accusing her of failing to protect residents of nursing homes during the pandemic.

Gov. Tom Wolf on Monday defended Levine against the accusation.

“She’s done a phenomenal job of making sure we do what we need to do to keep Pennsylvanians safe,” Wolf said.”

Levine said she had “no response” to Mastriano’s criticism of her.

Levine said the state has worked with Brighton since it had its first COVID-19 case, and has since installed a temporary manager there to help bring the home under control.

“It got to the point where the National Guard had to come in, and they did,” Levine said Tuesday.

State Attorney General Josh Shapiro on Tuesday announced that his office has opened criminal neglect investigations related to the pandemic into several Pennsylvania nursing homes, without identifying them.

The virus has had a heavy toll on such homes in Allegheny County, where 94 of the county’s 127 deaths from the disease have occurred, the county health department said Tuesday.

“According to the Pennsylvania Department of Health, 350 residents and 103 staff members at 36 long-term care facilities in Allegheny County have tested positive for COVID-19,” the department said in a news release.

There has been one death from the virus at a personal care home in Washington County, where the disease has sickened six residents and two workers at three facilities, the state health department said. There have been no virus cases reported at long-term care facilities in Greene County.

Randy Padfield, director of the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, said the National Guard will help to clean and sanitize the home in Beaver, and also assist with staffing there.