The cadre of federal, state and local officials looking into an uptick in patient deaths at the DaVita Lufkin Dialysis Center on Monday issued more information about their investigation.

We appreciate it.

A couple dozen people — some of whom are here, and some of whom are connected by phone and the Internet — are trying to get to the bottom of the matter. We pointed out in an editorial Sunday the slow release of information about the situation, from both authorities and the center's parent company. On Monday a spokeswoman for the group, Sharon Shaw of the Angelina County and Cities Health District, told us much more about what's happening at the Lufkin facility.

Several of the nuggets of information released by Shaw are things the patients of Lufkin's DaVita clinic, and the community itself, deserve to know from the get-go. And they reinforce, in our minds, how serious the situation is. These are some of the things we learned Monday:

* The center will be closed at least 45 days, the minimum amount established by a regulatory agreement DaVita has with the state.

* Investigators are now looking into 18 months worth of patient records, up from the original 30-day period in question. That means they have to look through more than 200 current and former patients' records. We still don't know how many patients have died at the center, or shortly after leaving the center, but that's one thing we probably won't know for a while.

* Just about every agency you would think might have a hand in the investigation really does. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Texas Department of State Health Services, our local health district and the Lufkin Police Department are helping. And they're basically working around the clock.

"There is a lot being done and a lot of concern for the patients in this community," Shaw said.

DaVita's Lufkin patients are now going through the inconvenience of having to seek treatment at other facilities. But they still want and need to know how the investigation in the facility at 700 S. John Redditt Drive in Lufkin is going. We thank the investigating agencies for being more forthcoming with that information.