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

RI nursing home COVID cases continue to rise

Providence Journal - 11/19/2020

Rhode Island nursing homes saw another increase in COVID cases in the last week.

The number of homes dealing with new COVID cases in the last two weeks is at 25, an increase from 17 during a comparable period leading up to Nov. 4. The total number of new COVID cases in the last two weeks at nursing homes was at least 320, compared to just under 100 in the two weeks leading up to Nov. 4.

In the two weeks leading up to Nov. 11, the number was at least 230. In other words, the latest data, released Wednesday, includes some of that increase, but the spike has continued into this week.

Assisted living facilities had another 25 to 29 new cases in the last two weeks, compared with fewer than five new cases leading up to Nov. 4. The cases were reported at nine different homes.

The situation highlights the difficulty of keeping the virus out of nursing homes in the state when it’s so widespread in the community. The virus generally gets in from either patients discharged from hospitals, or staff who have the virus.

More: Governor Raimondo expected to announce more COVID restrictions Thursday

More: RI updates list of coronavirus cases by community

More: Latest numbers: RI reports 6 COVID deaths, new daily case record

Spikes in COVID cases are hitting nursing homes around the country. It is not a problem unique to Rhode Island. The national association for long-term care facilities is now calling on Congress to provide more resources.

“Our worst fears have come true as COVID runs rampant among the general population, and long term care facilities are powerless to fully prevent it from entering due to its asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic spread,” Mark Parkinson, president and CEO of the American Health Care Association/National Center for Assisted Living. “Our health care heroes are doing everything they can to prevent it from spreading further, but this level of COVID nationwide puts serious strain on our workforce, supplies, and testing capacity.

The Rhode Island homes dealing with new virus cases in the last two weeks are all around the state, and include homes that previously didn’t deal with any virus cases at all and battle-tested facilities that had dozens in the spring and are now dealing with a second wave.

According to state Department of Health data, these are the five homes with the largest new outbreaks in the last two weeks:

Silver Creek Manor, Bristol, with 80 to 84. This facility hadn’t dealt with a major outbreak until the fall.

Mansion Center, Central Falls, with 40 to 44 new cases.

Kingston Center for Rehabilitation & Nursing in West Kingston, with 30 to 34 new cases.

Elmhurst Healthcare Center in Providence, with 25 to 29 new cases. This was one of the harder-hit facilities in the state through the first wave.

Roberts Health Center in North Kingstown, with 20 to 24 new cases.

Nursing home resident deaths have continued to rise, too. In all, more than 885 nursing home residents have died after contracting COVID-19. That represents nearly 70% of all COVID deaths in the state -- a proportion that has actually decreased since the spring, when it hovered around 75%.

bamaral@providencejournal.com

(401) 277-7615

On Twitter: @bamaral44

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: RI nursing home COVID cases continue to rise

___

(c)2020 The Providence Journal (Providence, R.I.)

Visit The Providence Journal (Providence, R.I.) at www.projo.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Nationwide News