Three of Lewis County's Reported COVID-19-Related Fatalities Were Residents at Lewis County Residential Health Care Facility

Three of Lewis County's Reported COVID-19 Related Fatalities
Were Residents at Lewis County Residential Health Care Facility

November 23, 2020 09:00 p.m. By: Nick Altmire

Lowville, NY-

Three of the four COVID-19 related fatalities that have been

reported in Lewis County were residents at the Lewis County Residential Health

Care Facility (LCRHCF), Lewis County Health System CEO Jerry Cayer

confirmed late this afternoon.

Lewis County Public Health reported the first COVID-19 related fatality in the

county last Monday, November 16, followed by reports of an additional COVID-

19 related fatality both last Wednesday and Thursday. The county's fourth

fatality was just reported in this evening's update from Public Health.

I was able to speak with Mr. Cayer late this afternoon, via telephone, for the first

time since he first disclosed at a November 17 meeting of the county legislative

board's Health & Human Services committee that there had been a large number

of residents and staff at the nursing home testing positive for COVID-19,

reported here

Mr. Cayer said that, as of 11 o'clock this morning, there were currently 12 COVID-

19 positive residents in the COVID unit that has been established at the nursing

home, while confirming that three of the four COVID-19 related deaths reported in

the county were residents of the nursing home.

ll of the

patients testing positive

in the nursing home reside on the same floor of the facility, Mr. Cayer said.

Currently, there are 11 staff members from the nursing home in isolation due to a

positive COVID test. Mr. Cayer said a team has been designated strictly to staff

the COVID unit at the nursing home. As of now, the day and evening shifts

consist of two Certified Nursing Assistants (CNA) and one nurse for the 12

residents in the unit. The ratio of one CNA to six residents is above the standard

of one per eight on day shifts and one per ten on evening shifts, Mr. Cayer said.

There are currently 126 residents at the 160 bed nursing home, according to Mr.

Cayer, and no new admissions to the facility have taken place in over a month.

All nursing home staff continue to be tested weekly for COVID-19. In addition, all

residents of the facility are currently being tested once a week, with residents of

the impacted floor receiving more frequent rapid tests when available. Mr. Cayer

said that the current inventory of the rapid PCR tests is low, leaving the

alternative of sending the specimens to an off-site lab and awaiting results.

The outbreak of positive cases at the nursing home comes as the number of

positive cases in the county has significantly grown over the last month. Of the

296 positive cases reported since testing began in March, 225 have been

confirmed since October 19.

Mr. Cayer said it was hard to say how the virus entered the nursing home, but

with new admissions and family visits on hold at the time it

s possibl

that

a staff

member

unknowingly brought

the virus

into the facility

. He noted that LCHS is the

largest

employer in the county, with staff living in

all of

the five neighboring

counties.

The nursing home has had four unannounced routine infection prevention visits

from the New York State Department of Health through the course of the

pandemic, Mr. Cayer said, noting the facility was in full compliance with all

infection prevention protocols.

Residents in the COVID unit will need two negative tests before being moved to a

newly established recovery unit for a period of time before returning to the

nursing home.

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