[co-author: Genta Iwasaki]
In a February 10, 2021 ruling (the “Garcia Ruling”) out of the District Court for the Central District of California (the “CDCA Court”) in the case of
., 20-02250JVS (C.D. Ca. Feb. 10, 2021), the CDCA Court held that the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act (42 U.S.C. § 247d–6d) (the “PREP Act”) provides senior living facilities with an exemption from civil liability for actions taken by such facilities to protect facility residents from COVID-19.
Given that long-term care and senior living facilities have experienced a disproportionate share of COVID-19 cases and deaths nationwide during the pandemic,[1] with many states having experienced their worst COVID-19 outbreaks and highest number of deaths in long-term care facilities in December 2020,[2] the extension of PREP Act liability protections to senior and long term care facilities is tremendously significant to the industry.
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As of March 9, 2021, the United States House of Representatives was continuing work to pass the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (H.R. 1319), the Biden Administration’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill. The legislation was passed by the Senate on March 6, 2021, and is expected to be passed in the House and signed into law before the end of the week. Despite calls from the senior housing industry, such as the American Seniors Housing Association (ASHA), the Bill does not include an allocation to replenish the Provider Relief Fund, which is currently estimated to amount to between $24 and $40 billion. Others in the industry are also pointing out that it does not otherwise offer much support to senior living communities. This comes as the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS), through its Provider Support Line, is generally communicating that none of the remaining Provider Relief Funding is currently be
Senior Living Communities, Liability for COVID-19 Countermeasures, and the PREP Act: Is the Tide Turning for Providers? Monday, March 8, 2021
In a February 10, 2021 ruling (the “Garcia Ruling”) out of the CDCA Court for the Central District of California (the “CDCA Court”) in the case of
., 20-02250JVS (C.D. Ca. Feb. 10, 2021), the CDCA Court held that the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act (42 U.S.C. § 247d–6d) (the “PREP Act”) provides senior living facilities with an exemption from civil liability for actions taken by such facilities to protect facility residents from COVID-19.
Given that long-term care and senior living facilities have experienced a disproportionate share of COVID-19 cases and deaths nationwide during the pandemic,[1] with many states having experienced their worst COVID-19 outbreaks and highest number of deaths in long-term care facilities in December 2020,[2] the extension of PREP Act liability protections to senio
Lawmakers file series of bills to address senior security, cash-for-gold after Dallas-area killings
The measures are in response to the 2016-18 string of slayings at independent living communities in which Billy Chemirmir is in jail as the suspect.
The 87th Texas Legislature is called into session at the Texas Capitol building in Austin, Texas, on Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2021. (Lynda M. González/The Dallas Morning News)(Lynda M. González / Staff Photographer)
Updated with comment from the American Seniors Housing Association.
Nearly three years after the arrest of a man who is accused of killing two dozen elderly women at senior living complexes in North Texas, a bipartisan group of lawmakers is taking steps they say will protect seniors.
This is a public health war being waged on two fronts, both of which we must win. First, we need to get as many people vaccinated against COVID-19 as quickly as possible; and second, we need to limit the spread of disease through the measures that should be as familiar to us by now as the Pledge of Allegiance. As the signs and posters put it: “One small ask please wear a mask” and “Do your part stay 6 feet apart.”
Make no mistake, the foe is relentless and unforgiving. Less than a year after the first death was reported in the U.S., the toll surged to a new single-day high of more than 4,000 on Tuesday. Predictions of a bleak winter are crystallizing into a bleak truth.