Mrs. Bush’s Personal Care Home in Kunkletown has yet to see a suspected or confirmed case of coronavirus in its facility.

That’s according to its administrator, Jessica Scheffner. “We feel really fortunate,” she said.

But Scheffner said that Mrs. Bush’s had to make some changes to ensure the safety of its residents, like shutting down communal dining, outside visitation and social activities.

Residents and staff are also being screened daily, Scheffner said, and the care home is strengthening its response protocol in case COVID-19 were to spread to its campus.

Long-term care homes across the county are taking similar precautions in an effort to protect the seniors they care for as COVID-19 cases in Pennsylvania continue to increase.

Nate Wardle, press secretary at the Pennsylvania Department of Health, said entities have no obligation to announce confirmed COVID-19 cases to the public at large. But by Thursday, Wardle added, there had been 1,058 cases confirmed in 168 long-term care facilities statewide.

When it comes to releasing case information to the public, Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine said at a press briefing last week, “There’s always a balance between individuals’ privacy and confidentiality of medical information versus the needs of public health.”

“We’ll work to maintain that balance,” Levine said.

County Commissioner Chris Lukasevich recently canvassed long-term senior care facilities in the county over the telephone. The goal of reaching out, which Lukasevich said he did alongside Carbon County Emergency Management Agency Director Mark Nalesnik, was to check each home’s personal protective equipment stock.

Most of the homes reported that they were in good shape. The ones that weren’t had their needs forwarded to the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency.

More than 3,600 deaths nationwide have been linked to coronavirus outbreaks in nursing homes and long-term care facilities, an alarming rise in just the past two weeks, according to the latest count by The Associated Press.

Because the federal government has not been releasing a count of its own, the AP has kept its own running tally based on media reports and state health departments. The latest count of at least 3,621 deaths is up from about 450 deaths just 10 days ago.

But the true toll among the 1 million mostly frail and elderly people who live in such facilities is likely much higher, experts say, because most state counts don’t include those who died without ever being tested for COVID-19.

Outbreaks in just the past few weeks have included one at a nursing home in suburban Richmond, Virginia, that has killed 42 and infected more than 100, another at nursing home in central Indiana that has killed 24 and infected 16, and one at a veteran’s home in Holyoke, Massachusetts, that has killed 38, infected 88 and prompted a federal investigation. This comes weeks after an outbreak at a nursing home in the Seattle suburb of Kirkland that has so far claimed 43 lives.

Experts say nursing home deaths may keep climbing because of chronic staffing shortages that have been made worse by the coronavirus crisis, a shortage of protective supplies and a continued lack of available testing.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.