Covid Deaths Mount in PA Facilities

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

Deaths from the coronavirus in facilities licensed or run by the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (DHS) have topped 100 and show no signs of slowing down.
Data compiled by the agency show the deaths have occurred in facilities ranging from community based residential homes for the intellectually disabled to substance abuse centers.
Ten covid deaths have also come in the state mental hospital in Norristown among 81 patients who tested positive.
With the exception of state mental hospitals, state Human Services officials, citing privacy concerns, have declined to name the specific entities where the deaths occurred. Instead they have provided updated figures by county.
"To protect the confidentiality of personal health information and the privacy of individuals, DHS is reporting this data by county rather than by program," the agency web site states.
"Some programs," the web site continues, "serve fewer than five individuals, and reporting information at this level potentially violates the department's obligation to protect individual privacy and personal health information."
For instance in the community based facilities for the intellectually disabled category, 64 covid deaths were recorded statewide while 18 of those deaths were in Philadelphia.
In Delaware county 16 deaths were reported out of 86 residents who were infected. In addition 117 staff members at Delaware county community based centers tested positive for covid-19.
In intermediate care facilities licensed by the state, deaths statewide were listed as "less than 28," while 227 staff members tested positive. In Philadelphia 125 patients were infected and nine died.
In licensed substance abuse treatment centers a total of 91 patients tested positive while five of those patients died. The state reported that 141 staffers at the treatment centers tested positive.
The DHS data is separate from coronavirus data compiled by the state Health Department on deaths and covid infections in licensed nursing homes. The latest total of nursing home deaths is 4,528.
Nor does the DHS data include covid deaths in Pennsylvania homes for veterans where 54 deaths have been recorded.
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