Failure to Report COVID-19 Outbreak to Health Department
Penalty
Summary
The facility failed to implement its policy and procedure for reporting an outbreak of communicable disease, specifically COVID-19. Two residents tested positive for COVID-19 in July 2025, with one resident being transferred to the hospital for shortness of breath and subsequently testing positive for COVID-19, and another resident's laboratory test confirming a positive result. Despite these cases, the facility did not report the outbreak to the local or state health department as required by their policy. Interviews with the Director of Nursing, Administrator, and Infection Preventionist confirmed awareness of the two positive cases but revealed that no report was made to the health department. The facility's policy, dated September 2022, defines an outbreak as even a single case of a highly communicable disease and assigns responsibility for reporting to the Administrator. The Infection Preventionist stated that the facility later received instructions from the county public health nurse to report all positive COVID-19 cases, but the initial cases were not reported as required.