Months into pandemic, Texas reveals ravages of COVID-19 nursing home infections
State officials have released the names of all Texas nursing homes and assisted living centers that have had outbreaks of coronavirus, showing the devastation the pandemic has unleashed in some facilities.
Various news organizations requested the information months ago under the Texas Public Information Act. Texas Health and Human Services sought to withhold the records, citing privacy concerns. The Texas attorney general’s office, which reviews such cases, ruled earlier this month that case counts are not medical records and must be disclosed.
Delia Satterwhite, whose brother died of COVID-19 inside the Riverside Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Southeast Austin in April, said the release of the numbers serves as validation. The public now knows that he and multiple fellow residents succumbed to the disease.
“They didn't have to tell the public about their cases and the deaths, and it’s like my brother never existed,” Satterwhite told the Austin American-Statesman on Tuesday. “Now, people will know just exactly what kind of a nursing home it is.”
Read more: https://www.reporternews.com/story/news/2020/07/29/months-into-pandemic-texas-reveals-ravages-of-covid-19-nursing-home-infections/5535873002/
(Abilene Reporter-News)
