With testing finished, Detroit nursing homes enter recovery phase

DETROIT (FOX 2) - Rapid testing of some of the city's most medically vulnerable residents in nursing homes has finished -- resulting in nearly 500 confirmed COVID-19 cases, Detroit officials said Friday.

Over the past few weeks, the city identified nursing homes as one of the areas most heavily impacted by the coronavirus and ramped up testing in Detroit's 26 facilities.

Detroit began using instant tests that deliver results in as little as five minutes from Abbott Laboratories to test as many nursing residents and staff as possible -- as quickly as possible.

Denise Fair, Chief Public Health Officer of the Detroit Health Department, said over the last 10 days, more than 1,900 staff and residents have been tested. The city reported 478 confirmed cases and 150 deaths at a 25% infection rate.

Detroit has also armed nursing homes with PPE, including 12,095 masks, 10,000 gloves, 150 gowns, and 300 face shields.

Additionally, the Centers for Disease Control provided four clinicians for two weeks to help Detroit in the fight against COVID-19. Fair said on Wednesday, they performed sight checks at nursing home facilities.

The next step will be looking at long-term health care facilities.