New Jersey’s 375 longterm care facilities must implement new mask and resident isolation requirements to slow the spread of the coronavirus among that high-risk population after 52 residents have already died in the state, health officials said Tuesday.
At least 81 of those longterm care facilities — 20% — have at least one resident that has tested positive, a number that has nearly doubled in less than a week.
There will be “universal masking of all staff and anyone entering” any long-term care facilities and all symptomatic residents “should be masked while staff is providing direct care," state Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli said at the state’s daily coronavirus briefing.
Also, facilitates “must create separate wings, units or floors” to separate people with the virus, Persichilli said.
Of New Jersey’s 267 deaths as of Tuesday, 19% are associated with long-term care facilities, she said.
Officials are not naming the nursing homes at this time, but said they will closely monitor the virus at all of the state’s nursing homes.
“It would be like giving out your home address. These are these people’s homes,” Persichilli said. “We don’t want to scare anyone because there are people who have nowhere else to go.”
Persichilli said she planned a call later Tuesday with the administrators of all 375 facilities to discuss the new restrictions and whether any of the buildings lack the ability to implement separate areas for residents with coronavirus to be treated as a group.
The outbreak has led to the closure last week of St. Joseph’s Senior Home in Woodbridge, where at least 24 residents and five staff members have tested positive, Persichilli said at the time. That included three deaths.
Murphy announced Tuesday New Jersey now has at least 18,696 known cases of the coronavirus, including at least 267 deaths, as the number jumped by 2,196 positive tests and 69 deaths. It was the biggest single-day increase in fatalities since the start of the outbreak.
NJ Advance Media staff writer Brent Johnson contributed to this report.
Matt Arco may be reached at marco@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MatthewArco or Facebook.
Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips
Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.com’s newsletters.