COVID-19 reappears at Beersheba nursing home
Facility suffers 14 deaths since outbreak • Overall cases continue to fall • Church of Holy Sepulchre reopens
As the number of active coronavirus cases in Israel continues to decline and more restrictions are lifted, a resident of the grief-stricken Mishan Nursing Home in Beersheba tested positive for COVID-19 late on Friday night.
Fourteen residents of the facility have died since the beginning of the outbreak, but this is the first case of coronavirus infection in the nursing home since the easing of the quarantine.
Nursing homes and assisted-living facilities have been one of the major front lines in the fight against coronavirus in the country, and around the world, due to the significantly higher death rates among senior citizens, coupled with the establishments’ increased need for social interactions.
All of the residents of the assisted living ward in which the resident was admitted have gone into isolation, and family visits to the ward have been discontinued.
Magen David Adom announced on Saturday evening that, at the request of the Health Ministry, its medics went to the nursing home to test all of the occupants.
Following the incident, the Mishan nursing home said in a statement on Saturday that the previous night the woman “was evacuated to the Soroka ICU from the assisted living ward after feeling ill, received a test and was found positive for the coronavirus. The resident is now hospitalized. In addition, we are appealing to the Ministry of Health to acquire tests for all occupants and staff in the department.”
As of Saturday night, the number of active coronavirus cases in Israel stood at 2,343, 47 of whom are in serious condition, including 36 patients who are intubated. Over 14,000 people have recovered from COVID-19, while 279 succumbed to the virus.
As more restrictions to contain the outbreak are lifted, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is set to reopen on Sunday under safety guidelines.
“Following the evolvement of the situation in the Holy Land, we, the Heads of the Three Communities, custodians of the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre and Resurrection, wish to inform that starting on Sunday... this most Holy Place will be accessible again to the faithful for visits and prayers,” the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos III, the Custos of the Holy Land Francesco Patton and the Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem Nourhan Manougian said in a statement.
They added that only people wearing appropriate face covers and with no symptoms will be allowed inside, up to 50 worshipers at a time and any act of devotion including physical contact will need to be avoided.
Yasser Okbi contributed to this article.