BUFFALO, N.Y. (WBEN) - After the Erie County Legislature this week passed a resolution calling on the county health department to release information on coronavirus in nursing homes, multiple sources have told WBEN that there is a new outbreak at the Autumn View Nursing Home in Hamburg.
The McGuire Group confirmed the outbreak at Autumn View and released the following statement to WBEN.
"We have experienced a cluster of positive patients this week at Autumn View, many of which were asymptomatic. As per our protocol, the patients have been transferred to Harris Hill Nursing Facility where they are being treated with expert care. Through our current safety and surveillance measures, we have also had several employees test positive, all of whom are in quarantine while they recover. We continue to work closely with the Department of Health and follow all regulatory guidance including weekly testing, screening and monitoring."
According to New York State data, there has been one coronavirus death at Autumn View since the pandemic began. 295 people who live at a nursing home have died in Erie County since March.
The county legislature on Thursday called on the health department to release information on nursing homes citing the need for transparency and public safety amid the pandemic. The health department has declined to name specific nursing homes due to HIPAA. The Erie County Comptroller's Whistleblower Hotline also received information about an outbreak that took place "at a nursing home located within the 14075 zip code".
"It was claimed that around 40 patients and almost 10 staff have tested positive for COVID-19, with some of those patients being transferred to nursing homes in other areas of Erie County," a letter by Comptroller Stefan Mychajliw reads. "Can you please notify the Office of Erie County Comptroller and Erie County Legislature if in fact this is true, and if it is, when the Erie County Health Department plans on disclosing this critically important information to the public, as you have been ordered to do by the Erie County Legislature."
Poloncarz said Wednesday that they will only release information if there is a risk to the general public.
"We don't get always the information associated with every nursing home," Poloncarz said Wednesday. "We didn't even get the nursing home data the last couple of days. We got just the hospital data from New York State. We don't get the data, (the nursing homes) don't provide the data. The state controls it. They get the data. If we get it, they share it with us. Nursing homes don't give us any data directly. They legally don't have to."
