Nursing home COVID statistics not counted until end of Sept.

DES MOINES - The Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH) updated COVID-19 antigen test results reported on coronavirus.iowa.gov to include nearly 27,000 tests from long-term care facilities now conducting surveillance testing as required by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). 

On Aug. 26, CMS issued an interim final rule related to long-term care facility testing including routine testing of staff, consultants, contractors, volunteers and others according to parameters set by the agency. 

Since Howard County was in the “red zone” at the time, the nursing homes were required to test their employees two times per week. The testing did not show any new outbreaks.

In fact, on Friday, Oct. 2, the one outbreak the county did have, Evans Memorial Home, is now off the outbreak list as all who tested positive are recovered or passed away.

The federal government provided initial antigen testing supplies and equipment to long-term care facilities nationwide for this purpose. Facilities were then responsible for securing additional supplies to continue to meet the testing requirement. 

IDPH received nearly 27,000 antigen test results from long-term care facilities during the month of September.  Results were uploaded to the reporting system over the Sept. 26-27 weekend, which will increase the number of individual test results and the number of antigen tests currently reported on the state’s website. 

Of the nearly 27,000 antigen test results included in the update, approximately 300 tests are positive, a positivity rate of 1.1%. 

While facilities notified public health officials as soon as positive cases were identified, public reporting of the test results has taken additional time. 

Unlike labs, long-term care facilities are not able to directly submit test results to the electronic reporting system. IDPH has now created a new reporting tool for long-term care facilities to use to streamline the process for reporting antigen test results. The tool will enable facilities to report results to IDPH in a more convenient and timely manner going forward.

Antigen testing is conducted on-site at the facilities and, because results take only minutes to process, staff members are quickly notified of their test results. Those who test positive are instructed to follow CDC guidelines for isolating at home and for later returning to work. Public health officials also conduct case investigations for all positive cases.