AUSTIN (Talk1370.com) -- Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced Monday that every nursing home resident and staff member in the state should be tested for COVID-19.
Abbott directed state agencies to develop and implement a plan for the testing based on guidance from the White House, including Vice President Mike Pence and Dr. Deborah Birx.
"The State of Texas is working to rapidly expand our testing capacity - especially among vulnerable populations in Texas nursing homes," Abbott said in a statement. "This important collaboration among HHSC, TDEM, and DSHS will ensure that any potential clusters of COVID-19 cases in nursing homes are quickly detected and contained."
Nationwide, an Associated Press tally shows that more than 26,000 residents and staff have died from outbreaks of the virus at the nation's nursing homes and long-term care facilities - roughly around a third of the 80,000 total deaths across the country.
