No fines for local nursing homes with staff vaccination violations

Oct. 3—CUMBERLAND — For weeks, some area nursing homes have violated a Maryland requirement for their workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

Despite threats of penalties from state officials, no local facilities have been fined.

According to Maryland Department of Health protocols that became effective Sept. 1, all nursing facility staff members are required to have their first or single dose of COVID-19 vaccine.

Nursing facilities that fail to comply with vaccination protocols or do not report their vaccination data are subject to civil and financial penalties, and enforcement actions.

"The nursing facilities that still have low percentages of staff with one COVID-19 vaccine and those that are failing to report data are imperiling the health and safety of our elderly loved ones," MDH Secretary Dennis R. Schrader said via press release this week. "We will continue to take enforcement action against them, including increasing fines."

MDH on Monday released its weekly "Top 10 and Bottom 10" list of skilled nursing home and congregate facilities in the state ranked by percentage of staff with at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

The "Top 10" list included Devlin Manor Nursing and Rehabilitation Center at 93%, and Garrett County Subacute Unit, and Allegany Health Nursing and Rehabilitation each at 92%.

The "Bottom 10" list included Cumberland Healthcare Center at 50%, and Sterling Care at Frostburg Village and Dennett Road Manor in Garrett County each at 54%.

As of Friday, none of those three had received Civil Money Penalties "for failure to comply with vaccination protocols," MDH Deputy Director for Media Relations Andy Owen said via email.

Details weren't available at that time, but will be in the near future, he said.

MDH provided a list of state CMPs imposed on nursing homes in Allegany and Garrett Counties from March 1, 2020 through Sept. 30 of this year.

It included fines of $6,250 on Nov. 18, 2020, and $1,750 on July 23 for Cumberland Healthcare Center. MDH did not provide reasons for the fines but said they were unrelated to COVID-19 vaccinations for staff members.

Officials at CommuniCare, which owns Cumberland Healthcare Center, were not immediately available for comment Friday.

According to Maryland's coronavirus website, as of Wednesday in Allegany County congregate facilities there had been 362 confirmed COVID-19 cases and one death among staff members, and 410 resident cases with 72 deaths.

The only information listed on the website for Garrett County was eight staff COVID-19 cases.

"Data are based on facility reports to MDH," the website stated.

State, local cases

MDH on Friday reported 1,530 new COVID-19 cases, 17 more deaths and 21 fewer hospitalizations across the state in the past 24 hours.

According to the Allegany County Health Department on Friday, the COVID-19 case rate per 100,000 people was 53.36.

"The case rate has declined from a peak of 81.56 early last week, however the county rate remains well above the Maryland rate (of) 20.67 per 100,000 population," ACHD said via press release.

"As of September 30, 44.7% of Allegany County residents were fully vaccinated against COVID-19, compared to 64.4% of all Marylanders," the release stated. "COVID-19 vaccinations are available at local pharmacies, urgent care clinics, pediatric offices, and some primary care providers."

Garrett County reported its case rate per 100,000 people was 63.02, and 48.8% of residents were fully vaccinated.

COVID-19 in ACPS

From Sept. 24 to 30, Allegany High School met the MDH definition of a school-wide outbreak.

"This school, along with Fort Hill High School, Mountain Ridge High School, and the Career Center remain on the MDH list of schools with School Wide Outbreaks," Allegany County Public Schools Public Information Officer Mia Cross said via press release Friday.

"There were no schools with classroom or cohort outbreaks reported," she said.

"ACPS had six staff members and 46 students reported as positive for COVID-19 during this time," Cross said.

"Three staff members and 141 students were identified as a close contact to a positive person," she said. "Those who are close contacts complete a quarantine period of 10-20 days, depending on their individual circumstances."

Teresa McMinn is a repoter for the Cumberland Times-News. She can be reached at 304-639-2371 or tmcminn@times-news.com.

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