CENTRE COUNTY, Pa. (WJAC) — Questions remain about coronavirus deaths in nursing homes and the transparency between the care facilities and the Pennsylvania Department of Health.
There are a number of issues surrounding COVID-19 reporting -- one of those specifically deals with patients diagnosed in nursing homes and personal care facilities.
That issue has surfaced this week with the reporting of the second person to die of COVID-19 in Centre County.
One week ago, Centre County commissioner Steve Dershem said there were no nursing homes in Centre County involved with COVID-19 cases.
The state health department’s website confirmed that there were no Centre County COVID-19 patients in a county nursing or personal care facility.
Tuesday, just days later, the health department reported the second person to die from COVID-19 in Centre County was in one of those facilities.
How did that happen so quickly?
There's no other information from the state.
U.S. Senator Bob Casey is among those working on federal legislation to release more information on nursing home cases, without violating personal health information.
The Department of Health says they’re considering it.
State senator Jake Corman said he also has questions for the state health department about the nursing home death.
Other state lawmakers and county administrators we talked to Wednesday say they too haven’t been told anything more about the latest COVID-19 death in Centre County.
There are about 5,000 patients statewide diagnosed with COVID-19 in nursing homes.
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