“As nursing homes continue to emerge as hotbeds for COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, officials and family members of residents at the state’s supported living centers are crying out for help, saying they also need more resources and staffing to protect some of the state’s most vulnerable people from spread. Officials say they’re ramping up support by providing more testing across Texas and additional personnel for facilities where the virus has been detected. But people close to the facilities have reported that the state is responding too slowly to the emergency. Disability rights advocates say state supported living centers need enough kits to test all residents and staff immediately and enough personal protective equipment to prevent staff from carrying the virus into the facility. “Those are the only ways that you ensure that you don’t continue to get community spread — not waiting until you start to have some confirmed findings that you begin these tests,” Mitchell said. “It should be done ahead of time.”
Read more on the Texas Tribune site.