Over the span of 19 days, a Chandler assisted living facility’s COVID-19 cases rose from one to 28 confirmed positives among residents.
Pennington Gardens confirmed to 12 News 13 of those residents have died. The facility said they are working to test everyone now.
“There is no doubt they were on lockdown before they had their first case,” said John Scanlan, whose wife lives at the facility.
Maricopa County Department of Public Health Data shows a total of 81 long-term care facilities in the county now have at least one positive case of the virus. That’s an increase of 49 facilities since last week.
“It keeps me up at night,” said Dana Kennedy, AARP Arizona’s State Director.
Kennedy said Arizonans need more transparency from the state about these facilities.
“Where I can go onto a website and say, ‘Okay, this facility has 12.’ and I also want to see how many have recovered as well. And I know that we’re looking at hospitals and ventilators, but how about where it is?” Kennedy said.
However, the state and Maricopa County refuse to release information about specific facilities, while other states around the country have done so.
“We consider that protected health information,” said Arizona Department of Health Services Director Dr. Cara Christ.
A Maricopa County spokesperson said they don’t release “identifying information” of individuals or facilities, adding the facilities are required by state law to report positive cases to public health, and it’s up to the facility to notify residents about the exposure.
“Families deserve transparency,” Kennedy said. “We need to put patients and families first over facilities.”
If you have a loved one in a long-term care facility, the county and AARP have recommended asking the facility about COVID-19 cases and what’s being done to keep residents safe.
A list of questions AARP put together for loved ones to ask can be found here.
