On Wednesday, President Donald Trump announced his administration will provide $5 billion to help nursing homes deal with the coronavirus. But, assisted living facilities will not be receiving any federal money.

Assisted living facilities in Arizona are regulated by the state. And during the pandemic, they have not received any federal dollars for testing, leaving it up to the facility to cover the costs. 

"If you want testing done weekly, we must have help," she Karen Barno, CEO of the Arizona Assisted Living Federation of America. "Right now, and I can only speak for Arizona, a lot of our assisted living centers are testing the residents themselves because it's their job, their mission, to protect the residents."

But the coronavirus is expensive. Testing can be costly, so is personal protective equipment, which has also been difficult to obtain. The state department of health said earlier this month that it will start testing residents and staff at assisted living facilities, though it’s unclear if that will be ongoing. 

But many of those places have started testing their residents, according to Karen Barno the CEO of the Arizona Assisted Living Federation of America. But one of the challenges they face is a resident’s right to say no to a test.

In the meantime, the facilities that are doing their own testing are running into another challenge: a resident’s right to say no to a test.

"They have the right to decline, and a lot of them do. And when we can't, we certainly aren't going to force them, because that's not the assisted living model."

More than 280  assisted living facilities across the state have or have had a confirmed case of COVID-19 according to Arizona Department of Health Services. Despite the many challenges facing the assisted living industry, Barno said the department of health has done a good job keeping her informed about what's happening. 

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