Nearly Half Of Indiana's Nursing Homes Report At Least One Case Of COVID-19

Nearly half of the state’s long-term care facilities have experienced at least one case of COVID-19 among residents, according to a significant data released by the Indiana State Department of Health.

Of 754 facilities required to submit data, almost half or 344 have experienced at least one positive resident case.  At least one resident death has been reported by 235 facilities. During a press call yesterday, state health officials said they expected a public dashboard to be released next week.

Indiana’s reporting comes months after all of its neighboring states and nearly all other states created such dashboards. The state cited patient confidentiality and other pandemic priorities while keeping the data private.

Officials this week expressed similar concerns about releasing COVID-19 school-level data. State health commissioner Dr. Kristina Box said, incorrectly, that concerns over HIPAA and FERPA were putting the release of that data on hold.