State turns focus to helping nursing homes as COVID-19 data is released

FOX 2 - New nursing home figures have been released from the state on the number of infections and how many people have been tested.

As expected the picture for nursing homes is just becoming clear as the data came down Friday, accounting for three quarters of all cases in southeast Michigan.

More than 2,200 cases across the state are coming from skilled nursing home facilities. About 331 facilities reported or about two-thirds of all facilities in the state.

"We're working very closely with our local health departments to work with these nursing facilities," said Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, Michigan chief medical officer.

The state is putting $3.8 million towards beefing up response there.

"This includes teams of public health experts and clinicians to really work with these nursing homes and work on expanding testing," said Khaldun.

Nursing homes have been hard hit. Gerontology professor in the nursing school at Oakland University, Karen Dunn, explained the unique challenges

"They have multiple comorbiditys that make them at higher risk, hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, all of these makes them at higher risk," Dunn said.

Connecting with loved ones who are isolated can make all the difference.

"Just doing what we are doing, Zooms and Google Chat, iPhones, and any type of interaction," Dunn said.

The city of Detroit will release its findings publicly Tuesday. All residents in nursing homes in the city have been tested.