On Tuesday, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously in favor of appointing an inspector general to oversee local nursing homes amid the coronavirus pandemic.
According to the motion, the inspector general would be chosen by July 1 and would conduct an "exhaustive review" of L.A. county's current nursing home system.
The new role was introduced by Supervisors Mark Ridley-Thomas and Kathryn Barger.
“While some skilled nursing homes may be doing their best to respond to COVID-19, we’ve seen hundreds of deaths at these facilities, tragically exposing the urgent need for stronger oversight across the industry,” Ridley-Thomas said in a statement last week. “Now, more than ever, we must act to address any questionable operations and substandard conditions in the facilities that care for some of our most vulnerable residents — the elderly, the low-income and the disabled.”
The motion also calls for a public dashboard where people can find weekly statistics on the number of confirmed cases at each nursing home. As of Monday, about 4,800 residents and 3,000 staff members from these facilities had tested positive for COVID-19.
Read the full report on the Los Angeles Times.