Texas State Ombudsman, Patty Ducayet, is Interviewed by NBC News on COVID-19 in Nursing Homes

July 15, 2020

In Texas, nearly 1,000 new COVID-19 infections of nursing home (NH) residents were reported in the week of July 10 which marks the highest weekly increase since mid-May. Deaths from COVID-19 have also been rising. “We had an opportunity to avoid what we’re experiencing right now,” said Patty Ducayet, Texas State Long-Term Care Ombudsman, “We got this chance to see what other states did, what awful things they were experiencing, so we might be ahead of the crisis. Now I’m bracing for more deaths to come and more cases.”

The American Health Care Association (AHCA), which represents long-term care facilities, warned that rising coronavirus could have a devastating impact on nursing home residents. “With the major spikes of COVID cases in many states across the country, we are very concerned this trend will lead to a dramatic increase in cases in long-term facilities,” the group wrote. Although NHs in Texas have remained closed to visitors throughout the pandemic, staff members are constantly cycling between the facilities and the broader community, and some work at multiple facilities.

Advocates are currently pushing for greater access to testing with quick turnaround times, which they say is critical given the spread of the virus through asymptomatic staff. According to the AHCA, rapid testing machines will be sent to 2,000 nursing homes across the country, beginning next week. “The biggest emotion that I have is just downright fear,” said Cissy Sanders, who has written letters and made calls pleading for health officials to provide more nursing home testing. “I refuse to be one of those family members who is talking to my mother over the phone while she’s in a hospital bed dying.”

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