Gov. Phil Murphy has unveiled and endorsed recommendations on improving nursing homes’ responses to outbreaks after COVID-19 ravaged long-term care facilities in the state.

 

The report calls for improving nursing homes’ emergency response by consolidating operations for all facilities in a single center.

"It is a call for dramatic reforms so the long-term care industry itself can do better, including greater transparency and staffing requirements. Reforms which once enacted will be key to our goal of protecting our most vulnerable residents,” says Gov. Murphy. "As the report states outright and I quote it, ‘COVID-19 didn't create the problem, it exacerbated the long-standing underlying systemic issues affecting nursing home care in New Jersey.’"

The plan also called for increasing wages and ensuring access to paid sick leave.

New Jersey’s long-term care facilities have been hard hit by the outbreak, accounting for nearly half of the state’s fatalities from the virus.