Nursing homes juggle hurricane evacuations amid virus fears

Dozens of nursing homes evacuated their residents as Hurricane Laura bore down Wednesday, but many others with a choice just stayed put, concluding the risk of breaking their coronavirus lockdowns could be more deadly than the storm.

“It is always best if you can remain in an environment that is familiar,” said Charles Solomon, who runs The Resort at Texas City, a nursing home with 79 residents near the Galveston Bay shoreline.

The facility suffered a COVID-19 outbreak that infected 55 residents, killing 17, but now is free of cases. Because it is outside the evacuation zone and has never flooded in the past, the staff decided it would be best to stay in place, particularly given fears of reintroducing the virus.

“Since we are a COVID-free facility, it would be best to remain that way,” Solomon said.

Shifting storm tracks and the trauma of transferring vulnerable residents can make the calculus of whether to stay or to go difficult for nursing home operators. The added risk of virus exposure convinced some homes that they’re better off braving the storm in place.

Others, largely those under mandatory evacuation orders, have scrambled to move residents inland as Laura nears. The Texas Health and Human Services Commission said 64 long-term care facilities housing about 1,500 residents had evacuated as of Wednesday afternoon. In Louisiana, another 11 nursing homes were evacuated, according to the state health department.

Ron Payne, CEO of Southwest LTC, which runs nursing homes across Texas, has been through multiple storm evacuations over the years. But this week’s evacuations of about 350 residents at four of his homes were far different than any in the past.

He needed twice as many buses, ambulances and other vehicles to move residents to ensure COVID-19 patients weren’t transported alongside...