Transparency News, 5/1/20

 

Six residents of an assisted living facility in Hanover County have died of COVID-19, as its spread in long-term care facilities has sparked criticism that Virginia has not been aggressive enough in testing or transparent in reporting deaths from the virus in nursing homes, assisted living and other long-term care operations. “We need to be aggressive and make sure everybody gets tested,” said Sen. George Barker, D-Fairfax, a General Assembly leader on health care policy. “The second thing is we need to make sure we’re transparent so the public doesn’t think we’re hiding information that would be helpful to families.” In the first weeks of the pandemic, the Virginia Department of Health would report deaths only by health district, but subsequently it has begun reporting them by locality. Gov. Ralph Northam announced Wednesday that the department soon would begin reporting cases by ZIP code.
Richmond Times-Dispatch

Budget and tax rate public hearings can be lively. Particularly following a countywide reassessment.  On the other hand, last Tuesday, the Orange County Board of Supervisors staged three public hearings and heard only the sounds of their own voices and a handful of county staff. Meeting remotely, the board opened three public hearings, soliciting written citizen comment on the proposed 2021 budget, tax rate and first-half taxes due date. Those wishing to comment had until 5 p.m. Monday, April 27, to submit their input in writing to board clerk Alyson Simpson either by postal or electronic mail. The board was scheduled to read any comments into the record and expected to take action at its meeting Tuesday, April 28 (after presstime).
Orange County Review

 

Since we wrote in this space last week about a shameful lack of transparency on COVID-19 outbreaks in nursing homes, the tide has been shifting in many parts of the country to a more informed citizenry. Unfortunately, the Virginia Department of Health and its Western Tidewater Health District haven’t gotten the message. Neither has a Florida company, Consulate Health Care, which owns the nursing home believed to be the source of a spike in Isle of Wight County’s coronavirus cases. Florida’s governor on Saturday became the latest advocate for transparency surrounding long-term care facilities, which are hotbeds for COVID-19 outbreaks. At Gov. Ron DeSantis’ directive, Florida began releasing the names of nursing homes and assisted living facilities where there are confirmed cases of COVID-19. In Virginia, meanwhile, public health officials have doubled down on their assertion that facilities themselves have a right to privacy. The Western Tidewater Health District has revealed that unnamed long-term care facilities are the source of outbreaks but refused to provide any information that would be helpful to a jittery citizenry. The reputations of facilities with no active COVID-19 cases have been tainted by the health district’s vagueness.
Suffolk News Herald