Pennsylvania’s Health Secretary, Dr. Rachel Levine on Tuesday announced a universal testing strategy for all staff and residents in the state’s long-term care facilities, including nursing homes and assisted living facilities.

There has been a growing chorus of complaints that the state has not been aggressive enough in stopping the spread of the COVID-19 virus in these facilities, an allegation that Levine strongly disputes. As of Tuesday, 12,130 people had tested positive in these facilities, or 21% of the total positive cases in the state.

Carbon County has 53 cases in long-term care, five of those among employees. There are 13 deaths.

Lehigh County has recorded 552 cases, 105 of them in employees, with 91 deaths.

Luzerne County has 382 cases, 58 of them in employees, and 87 deaths.

In Monroe County, there are 133 cases in long-term care, with 28 of them being employees. To date, 28 deaths have been reported.

In Northampton County, nursing homes have 586 cases, with 139 in employees. To date, 101 deaths have been recorded.

Schuylkill County has the lowest numbers, with just 48 cases in long-term care. Fifteen are employees.

There have been two nursing home deaths.

Levine said the new program “focuses on ensuring that testing is accessible, available and adaptable to the evolving landscape of the virus.”

She said the state has not had the testing materials needed for the program until about a week ago. She insists that “we have been focusing on these facilities from the beginning.”

The stepped-up testing program will be aided by members of the state National Guard, according to Randy Padfield, director of the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency.

Guardsmen will provide a mobile testing option for facilities that can’t do their own testing. The Guard has helped staff 10 nursing homes, including Gracedale in Northampton County, since the pandemic began.

In another key move to add conformity to its statistics, Levine said the state has ordered nursing homes starting Sunday to report the number of positive cases and the number tested the same way that hospitals do and that these numbers will be made public.

“By testing every resident and every staff member in every nursing home, we will be able to pinpoint who has COVID-19, who has been exposed but has no symptoms and identify cases without further spread,” Levine said.

She said that the effort will give officials a clear picture of any extensive outbreak and a head start on stopping it.

Levine also said that regardless of a county’s stage of reopening, social distancing is the key to protecting the vulnerable residents in these facilities.

“We know that COVID-19 did not suddenly appear in a nursing home,” said Levine, who added that it was brought in from the outside.

About an hour after finishing her public briefing, Levine took phone calls for 75 minutes from members of the Pennsylvania News Media Association in the first of what is expected to be weekly question-and-answer sessions.

She reviewed some of the key points of the state’s strategy to keep residents safe. She also declined to comment on a call this week from State Rep. Doug Mastriano, R-Franklin, for her to resign and accusing her of being a prime factor in the large number of COVID-19 deaths in the state’s nursing homes.

Instead, she referred to Gov. Tom Wolf’s statement Monday which praised Levine, adding “My assessment of Dr. Levine is that she is doing a phenomenal job. We’ve got to be careful about blaming the messenger for the message.”