Officials identify 7 Mecklenburg County nursing homes with coronavirus outbreaks
Seven nursing homes in Mecklenburg County have ongoing outbreaks of COVID-19, county health officials have announced.
It’s the first time they’ve identified facilities with outbreaks, defined as two or more cases.
“Our infectious disease prevention team continues to work nonstop to prevent and manage novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreaks in long-term care facilities and other congregate living settings,” Health Director Gibbie Harris said in a statement.
The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in North Carolina jumped to 6,140 on Saturday, according to the state Department of Health and Human Services. Almost one in five are in Mecklenburg, at 1,151 cases. Raleigh’s News & Observer, which is keeping a separate count based on reports from county health departments as well as DHHS, puts the number of confirmed cases at 6,310 with 174 deaths.
Statewide, nursing homes have accounted for more than a quarter of COVID-19 deaths, according to DHHS. As of Saturday, 43 of the 174 people who have died of the disease have died in such facilities.
Mecklenburg officials, however, did not say how many if any of the county’s 24 COVID-19-related deaths occurred in nursing homes or care facilities. Nor did they say how many cases were at each of the seven nursing homes. “At this time, we are not releasing the number of cases at each facility,” officials said in an email Saturday.
The New York Times reported Saturday that a fifth of the coronavirus deaths in the country have come in nursing homes or other long-term care facilities. It said 55 people had died in one facility in Brooklyn. New York first reported the names of nursing homes Friday. California began on Saturday.
Mecklenburg health officials identified seven facilities with outbreaks:
▪ Hunter Woods Nursing & Rehab Center, 620 Tom Hunter Road, Charlotte.
▪ Huntersville Oaks, 10219 Verhoeff Dr., Huntersville.
▪ Pavillion Health Center, 10011 Providence Road West, Charlotte.
▪ Autumn Care of Cornelius, 19530 Mt. Zion Ave., Cornelius.
▪ The Social at Cotswold, 3610 Randolph Road, Charlotte.
▪ Carrington Place Rehab & Living Center, 600 Fullwood Lane, Matthews.
▪ The Laurels, 13180 Dorman Road, Pineville.
WBTV reported Friday that one resident of The Social at Cotswold on Randolph Road died of COVID-19, and 14 other residents and two employees tested positive for coronavirus.
Administrators of The Social could not be reached Saturday.
Mecklenburg health officials say they plan to release nursing home names twice a week. Previously, they had refused to release the names of nursing homes with outbreaks.
The refusal went against the strategies of other counties, including Wake, Durham and Union, which have been releasing the names of nursing homes where outbreaks occur.
Earlier this week, Harris said there was no need to release the facility’s name “because we’ve been able to work with those facilities to contain the infection, the spread of it.”
On Saturday, Iredell County health officials confirmed a COVID-19 outbreak at a long-term care facility, without naming the center or saying how many cases may be involved.
County health officials said in a news release they are working with the facility “to conduct contact tracing” and said the facility “continues to implement strict visitor restrictions and infection control precautions to prevent any further spread of COVID-19.”
No one else at the facility has shown signs or symptoms of COVID-19, according to the health department. As a precaution, however, all residents and employees at the facility will be tested for COVID-19, officials said.
“The skilled nursing staff of the long-term care facility are continuing to provide quality care to all residents, with resident and staff safety being the utmost priority,” according to the health department release.
Hazard pay
The City of Charlotte has announced that it will give raises to first responders “and other city employees who have frequent, direct exposure to the public.”
Those employees will get a 5% raise, retroactive to March 26.
This story was originally published April 18, 2020 at 11:13 AM.
