Casey, Wyden Slam Administration for Incomplete Data on COVID-19 in Nursing Homes
Senators Continue Call for Transparency as Death Toll in Long-Term Care Settings Surpasses 40,000 Among Residents and Workers
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA), Ranking Member of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, and Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee, released the following statement in response to the preliminary data released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) regarding nursing facilities battling COVID-19.
“The information released by the Trump Administration is incomplete and does not come close to providing the complete picture we need to sufficiently respond to COVID-19 outbreaks in nursing homes. The data is shockingly sparse, and lacks reporting by almost one in five nursing homes. Nursing homes were not required to submit data on cases and deaths before May 1, meaning we may never know the full scope of this tragedy. CMS pledged to make information publicly available by the end of May, yet information from individual nursing homes and reporting on facility access to PPE, testing and other supplies that were publicly promised have yet to be released,” said the Senators. “This decision to provide far less than full transparency represents yet another failure by this Administration to do right by the millions of nursing home residents, workers and families irreversibly harmed by this terrible virus.”
Senators Casey and Wyden have repeatedly urged CMS to release information about the spread of COVID-19 in nursing homes. Yet, the Trump Administration has slow-walked the release of this information for months.
