Majority Of NYC Nursing Home Employees Have Had Covid-19

BioReference Labs reports that Covid-19 antibody testing it performed on nursing home employees throughout New York State in May-June showed a 29% positivity rate. New York City nursing home employees were found to have the highest positivity rate (55%).

During the same time period, BioReference performed PCR-based molecular tests for active Covid-19 infection and found a 2.9% positive rate throughout the state, including a 4.6% positive rate for New York City nursing home employees.

The testing was performed as a result of a New York State mandate (effective May 10) that all personnel at nursing home and adult care facilities be tested for active Covid-19 infection using PCR-based molecular testing, twice per week. In addition, at the start of the program, many nursing homes asked that employees be tested for antibodies at the same time.

BioReference uses the Roche Elecsys Anti-Sars CoV-2 assay for antibody testing. Overall, BioReference tested 3,488 nursing home employees in New York State (primarily in May) for antibodies and found 1,010 positive cases. “With 29% of employees testing positive for antibodies, an extrapolated estimate for the 140,000 total nursing home staff in New York State suggests as many as 41,760 nursing home staff members in the state could have had Covid-19 prior to early May,” according to Jon Cohen, MD, Executive Chairman at BioReference.