CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) RESOURCE CENTER Read More
Add To Favorites

22 residents of Cheektowaga nursing home test positive for Covid-19

Buffalo News - 11/17/2020

Nov. 17--Twenty-two residents in Garden Gate Health Care Facility tested positive for Covid-19 last week and have been moved into another nursing home.

Amy Carter, director of nursing for the Cheektowaga nursing home, informed families about the large number of positive tests in a phone message Friday.

However, neither the McGuire Group, which owns and operates Garden Gate, nor Erie County officials publicly disclosed the outbreak. The state Department of Health, which monitors nursing homes, also did not disclose that Garden Gate had experienced a surge in infections.

The Buffalo News learned about the outbreak from a family member of a Garden Gate resident.

Garden Gate had 170 residents as of Nov. 1. McGuire Group spokeswoman Dawn M. Harsch confirmed Monday afternoon that 22 Garden Gate residents had tested positive for coronavirus "over the past several weeks."

According to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services data, Garden Gate did not have any residents test positive for Covid-19 from late August until Nov. 1, the latest data available at the federal website, CMS.gov.

A total of 122 Garden Gate residents tested positive from late May to late August, according to the data. The nursing facility had 33 Covid-19 deaths between late May and mid-June, but no deaths since mid-June.

Harsch said many of the 22 residents recently infected with Covid-19 did not have symptoms. All of them were transferred to Harris Hill Nursing Facility in Lancaster, which McGuire in May converted into a residence for residents who have Covid-19.

More than 420 residents from nursing homes and assisted living facilities in Erie, Niagara, Chautauqua and Cattaraugus Counties have recovered from Covid-19 due to the high-quality care they received at Harris Hill, Harsch said.

Carter said in her phone message to family members that Garden Gate anticipated the return of transferred residents when they recover from Covid-19.

Three Garden Gate employees who tested positive were put on furlough, Carter said in her message.

She added that the facility will do weekly testing on all residents on Mondays "for the next upcoming weeks" and will continue mandatory testing on all employees twice a week.

"In keeping with the governor's mandate, our building needs to be Covid free for 14 days before we're allowed to submit a safety plan for reopening," Carter said. "Our next date of submission is tentative for the first week of December."

Garden Gate is rated as a five-star nursing home, or "much above average," by the federal government.

The county Health Department was aware of Covid-19 cases at Garden Gate, spokeswoman Kara Kane said.

Kane said the state Health Department investigates nursing home facilities.

County health officials make public notifications about Covid-19 cases and exposures "when our contact tracing process is not able to identify and notify close contacts," she said.

The county Health Department also kept secret from the public last month when 61 residents and 17 staff members at Comprehensive Rehabilitation & Nursing Center tested positive for Covid-19.

___

(c)2020 The Buffalo News (Buffalo, N.Y.)

Visit The Buffalo News (Buffalo, N.Y.) at www.buffalonews.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Nationwide News