HEATHER STAUFFER | Staff WriterResidents of long-term care facilities in Lancaster County account for 68% of COVID-19 deaths here, matching the state average, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health.
Of the 422 people here who the state reported have died of the coronavirus as of Tuesday, 288 were residents of nursing and personal-care homes.
Statewide, the health department shows long-term care homes have had 20,444 COVID-19 cases among residents and 4,261 in staffers. In Lancaster County, it shows those figures are 1,276 and 353, respectively.
The health department reported that as of Tuesday, 5,064 of the 7,499 COVID-19 deaths, or 68%, were residents of long-term care facilities who died there or after being transferred to a hospital.
Forty of the state’s 67 counties have had residents of nursing or personal-care homes die of COVID-19, according to the department.
Five highest rankings
The five counties with the highest percentage of nursing or personal-care home residents who died of COVID-19 show percentages higher than 100 because the health department reported more deaths from those facilities than total deaths for each of the counties where they are located. The counties are:
— Lycoming: 140% (28 of 20)
— Susquehanna: 119% (32 of 27)
— Columbia: 103% (36 of 35)
— Cumberland: 103% (73 of 71)
— Lackawanna: 101% (214 of 212)
“If someone dies in a long-term care facility, or at the hospital after becoming infected in a long-term care facility, it counts as a death in that county,” department spokesman Nate Wardle explained in an email. “However, when we receive the death certificate, it is possible that they may have had a permanent residence in another county, and so those two charts may not match up perfectly.”
Lancaster County ranks in the middle
Lancaster County ranks 20th among the 40 counties in the state where residents of nursing or personal-care homes died of COVID-19. Here’s how Lancaster’s neighboring counties rank:
— Dauphin: ninth, 89% (144 of 161)
— Chester: 13th, 82% (285 of 349)
— Lebanon: 18th, 73% (40 of 55)
— Berks: 24th, 63% (236 of 375)
— York: 25th, 62% (67 of 108)
Five lowest rankings
The five counties where residents of nursing and personal-care homes made up the lowest percentage of coronavirus deaths were:
— Washington: 25% (5 of 20)
— Butler at 18% (3 of 17)
— Fayette at 17% (1 of 6)
— Mercer at 17% (2 of 12)
— Wayne at 10% (1 of 10)
Lancaster County coroner data
According to Lancaster County Coroner Dr. Stephen Diamantoni, of the county’s 402 COVID-19 deaths, 335, or 83%, were residents at nursing or personal-care homes here.
LNP | LancasterOnline uses COVID-19 data from Diamantoni, who reports how many deaths here were caused by the coronavirus, even if the person’s home address was somewhere else.
Thirteen nursing or personal-care homes here have had at least 10 coronavirus deaths, according to Diamantoni. The highest total is 78 at Conestoga View Nursing & Rehabilitation, a 446-bed home in Lancaster Township that is among the largest in the state.
Other homes with more than 20 deaths attributed to the coronavirus include the 106-bed Luther Acres in Lititz with 29, the 240-bed Lancashire Hall in Manheim Township with 27, the 172-bed ManorCare Health Services Lancaster in Lancaster Township with 24, and the 94-bed Hamilton Arms Center in Lancaster Township with 21.
Lancaster has 32 nursing and 55 personal-care homes totaling a combined 7,748 beds; sometimes both are present in one campus and share a name.
.@PAHealthDept titled this "Total Number of Newly Identified Facilities Reporting COVID-19 Per Day and 7-Day Moving Average."It shows that while long-term care facilities were hit hardest toward the beginning of the pandemic, first cases have kept appearing regularly. pic.twitter.com/XtUeD5D1Vj
— Heather Stauffer (@HStaufferLNP) August 19, 2020
This one's "Total Reported LTCF COVID-19 Associated Deaths and 7-Day Moving Average." As we've seen in #LancasterCounty, #nursinghome deaths are down significantly but have not disappeared. pic.twitter.com/s6jEc9p00z
— Heather Stauffer (@HStaufferLNP) August 19, 2020
