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Maricopa County Encourages Long-Term Care Facilities To Tell Families About COVID-19 Infections

Maricopa County’s director for disease control says it’s working with long-term care facilities to inform residents and their families when there’s a confirmed case of COVID 19. But for some, it could end up being a guessing game.

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On Wednesday, Dr. Rebecca Sunenshine told reporters at a press conference that if a case of COVID-19 is detected at a long-term care facility, they strongly recommend that facilities notify residents and their families. She also said families should feel empowered to ask.

Then she said "one of the other ways that families or staff can be aware of what's happening in the facility, is once all of the residents are put on isolation precautions, whether or not they have respiratory symptoms, that is a sign that there has been some indication of a case in the facility."

Sunenshine said it’s important for long-term care facilities to feel comfortable reporting confirmed COVID-19 cases, and a reason why they will not publicly name facilities with the virus. 

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KJZZ senior field correspondent Kathy Ritchie has 20 years of experience reporting and writing stories for national and local media outlets — nearly a decade of it has been spent in public media.