Nursing Homes Among Hardest Hit In Oklahoma's Coronavirus Pandemic

The state’s nursing homes have been hit especially hard in the COVID-19 pandemic.

The state health department established a task force dedicated to helping nursing homes and long term care facilities fight the virus.

Grace Skilled Nursing in Norman has suffered the biggest impact of the pandemic in the state with now 67 positive cases of residents, five positive staff members and a total of 10 deaths.

A facility spokesperson said in a statement, “From the onset the facility has undertaken an aggressive protocol or screening, testing, isolation and treatment.”

However, cases have continued to grow.

The center and all others across the state now have the benefit of dedicated resources with the Oklahoma State Department of Health to help them manage the crisis.

“What it is is a group of people who are deployed in 11 different regions across the state,” Shelly Zumwalt said on behalf of the health department. “Those different teams consist of epidemiologists, nurses, medical care consultants.”

The department will also be distributing shipments of personal protective equipment (PPE), something advocates have been asking for. In addition, the task force is offering education and guidance on how to use that PPE correctly.

The health department ranks nursing homes as tier one, meaning they are also priority for testing. If consultants determine it’s necessary, an entire population can be tested.

“They’re the first priority for testing, they’re the first priority for PPE, as well,” Zumwalt said.

At Grace Skilled Nursing, they said every resident has now been tested regardless of if they had symptoms and some residents who tested positive are now showing signs of improvement.