More than 50% of coronavirus deaths in Mississippi have occurred in long term care settings. And now the public knows the name of each facility, how many employee cases, and resident cases and deaths. According to the first numbers released Wednesday, the Bedford Care Center in Hattiesburg had the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths with 147 residents and workers testing positive and 25 residents dying.
Priya Chidambaram with the Kaiser Family Foundation says she’s glad they’re releasing more data on the impact COVID-19 is having in long term care facilities.
“They’re actually now reporting data on staff cases - which we did not have any data on before,” said Chidambaram.
“So if you look at the data from last week to this week it would look like the number of cases in long term care facilities has nearly doubled but in fact Mississippi is now reporting data on staff numbers,” she said.
The facility with the second largest outbreak is the Rolling Hills Developmental Center in Oktibbeha County. The center for intellectual and developmental disability services has 129 cases. The Choctaw Residential Center in Neshoba County reported 96 coronavirus cases with 20 deaths. It’s the second largest number of coronavirus deaths in a long term care facility.
The health department had already been releasing some statistics with the number of cases in long-term care facilities. But Tony Hamrick, president of the Mississippi Healthcare Association, says while it is public information he has mixed feelings about releasing the names of facilities.
“I think it’s fodder for lots of speculation,” said Hamrick. “I think nursing homes throughout this nationally have gotten a bad rap for COVID-19.”
“It just so happens that the population we care for is the population that’s most susceptible to this,” he said.
According to the health department, at least 1,935 cases of the virus have been confirmed in long-term care facilities with at least 395 virus-related deaths.
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