COVID-19 cases on the rise in nursing homes across Cumberland County

Nov. 11--For weeks during the tail-end of summer and beginning of fall, there was little movement in the number of COVID-19 cases in nursing homes across the country.

After a number of nursing homes across the state -- and a few in Cumberland County -- struggled with outbreaks of the disease in the summer, the focus shifted to college students and younger people driving up the number of cases and potential for community spread.

That new focus, however, came with a warning from Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine. This kind of COVID-19 activity among the healthier population would, if not mitigated, again start affecting the vulnerable populations in long-term care facilities.

That warning hit home within the last week in nursing homes in Cumberland County.

The Cumberland County government, which owns Claremont Nursing & Rehabilitation Center in Middlesex Township, has been transparent in reporting new cases since the start of the pandemic, and this week announced spikes of cases at the facility with ongoing population testing in place.

According to the latest information Tuesday from the state Department of Health, Claremont has 23 resident cases and 18 staff cases, up from fewer than five resident cases and 12 staff cases just the week before. Those resident cases, however, continue to climb and sit around 30 as of Wednesday.

Claremont, however, wasn't the only facility in the county to see a breakout, and didn't even have the highest increase in the last week.

Messiah Lifeways in Upper Allen Township in the last week rose from nine resident cases to 48 resident cases, and from seven staff cases to 12 staff cases, according to the Department of Health. Messiah Lifeways reported this week that two of its residents have died after testing positive for COVID-19.

In addition to Claremont, many of the nursing homes that saw increases in cases in the last week are located in the Carlisle area.

According to the Department of Health, Chapel Pointe's cases rose from zero resident cases to 14, fewer than five staff cases to 10, and zero deaths to fewer than five deaths. Cumberland Crossings in South Middleton Township saw its number of resident cases rise from zero to 13 within the last week.

Others saw more moderate increases, with Sarah Todd Memorial Home seeing one more staff case to bring its total staff cases to 46, and Thornwald Home rose by two resident and staff cases each, to reach 20 resident cases and 14 staff cases.

Elsewhere in the county, there were single case increases at the Gardens at Camp Hill among staff and at Swain Health Center in Newville among residents and staff.

Shippensburg Health Center had the largest outbreak in the county, and its COVID-19 numbers are also ticking upward in the last week. According to the department, the facility saw eight new resident cases to move to a total of 108 cases, as well as four new staff cases to reach 36 affected employees and one new death to bring its total to 33.

The increase in cases has affected some policies for facilities that reopened after the summer rise of cases. Claremont is not allowing visitors as it conducts population testing, and Messiah Lifeways has quarantined all nursing neighborhoods as a precaution.

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