Earlier this week, the long-term care community of Glencroft made the decision to release its COVID-19 data on a daily basis. It’s one of the only long-term care facilities to do so.
After a local TV station reported that some former employees were concerned and upset about how Glencroft communicated its COVID status, management decided to make the numbers public.
Scott McClintock is the chief strategy officer at Glencroft, one of the largest retirement communities in Arizona.
He says there was so much misinformation, it was becoming impossible to control.
"We were looking an awful lot. I think like, we were holding something back. And we really weren't," said McClintock.
So they found a way to release the data without potentially compromising an individual's privacy. From a business standpoint, the decision to release that kind of data could be seen as risky.
"They may look at that and go, yeah, moving there," said McClintock. "They've got COVID ... well, if they think other people don't, that'll be a problem. And I think some of that's going to happen. I think it will hurt us financially. I think there will be some people that will choose not to consider us because we've posted that."
As of Wednesday, a total of 50 residents and staff at the Glendale facility had confirmed COVID-19 and 21 residents had died from the virus, according to Glencroft.
