A coalition of Valley nursing homes is calling on health and government officials to provide more tools needed to fight the coronavirus. 

The Northeast Ohio Senior Rights Advocacy Group was first formed in 2011 to draw attention to treatment of senior citizens and workers in nursing homes and is now reforming as the facilities work to stop the virus from spreading inside. 

The group, which is comprised of the owners and operators of Briarfield, Community Skilled, Heritage Manor, Ohio Living Lake Vista, Shepherd of the Valley and Windsor House, issued an open letter Friday afternoon calling attention to the need for personal protective equipment and testing at nursing homes. 

"Additional testing and more personal protective equipment are desperately needed in our state's nursing homes," the letter reads. 

In Ohio, health officials have pointed to nursing homes as hotspots for the virus, due to the close proximity of residents. 

In the letter, the group says that it is crucial for the facilities to be able to isolate cases quickly to avoid spreading the illness, but that that isn't possible without the capability to test. 

"One positive COVID-19 resident could potentially result in hospital admissions for some 15-25 residents and for numerous members of the staff. This also puts EMS and hospital staff at risk. If testing was available, widespread outbreaks could be prevented both inside nursing homes and throughout the community at large. Nursing homes cannot purchase these items because of the disruption in the supply chain. Test kits and PPE allocation are controlled by governmental agencies that do not have the same sense of urgency that we do," the letter states. 

As of Friday, there are more than 200 cases of the coronavirus in longterm care facilities in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties.