Bipartisan caucus seeks expanded nursing home virus review

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A bipartisan coalition of state lawmakers gave Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont a long list of issues Tuesday that they want reviewed in an upcoming, independent third-party investigation into the preparation and response to the coronavirus inside nursing homes and assisted living centers across the state.

The detailed request by the Women’s Bipartisan Legislative Caucus includes questions about the prevalence of state inspections before and during the pandemic; cleaning policies at the homes; the handling of asymptomatic residents and new residents to a facility; staffing ratios before and during the pandemic; the availability of personal protective equipment and numerous other issues.

"We need to know what happened, what worked, what didn’t work and what could we learn from it,” said Rep. Rosa Rebimbas, R-Naugatuck, the group’s co-chairwoman. She also said the third-party review should examine how the state’s chain of command worked, from the governor’s office to agency department heads, as the prospect of a possible new wave of the coronavius looms this fall.

The legislature’s women’s caucus, made up of about five dozen female members of the House of Representatives and Senate from both political parties, was formed in 2018.

Lamont, who attended a news conference on the state Capitol steps with members of the women's caucus, announced last week that he ordered an independent, third-party review into the handling of the pandemic in nursing homes and assisted living centers. Out of a total of 21,771 licensed nursing home beds in the state, there have been nearly 2,700 deaths related to coronavirus.

Rep. Michelle Cook, D-Torrington, told a harrowing personal story about how father-in-law died from the coronavirus even though his nursing home was still telling families it was...