Colchester nursing home has 57 infections

Harrington Court has 46 residents among positive tests

Atotal of 57 people, including 46residents, at the Harrington Court Nursing Home in Colchester have tested positive for the coronavirus as state officials deal with yet another outbreak in a long-term care facility.

Russell Melmed, director of the Chatham Health District, said Thursday morning there had been no deaths so far, but that the outbreak, which is believed to have started early last week, is still not contained. However, the weekly count of COVID cases in nursing homesreleased following Gov. Ned Lamont’s press conference lists twodeaths in the past week at Harrington.

Dr. Richard Feifer, Chief Medical Officer for Genesis Health Care, which operates Harrington Court, said Thursday the outbreak started with a patient that was admitted from a local hospital.

“Harrington Court has experienced a second outbreak with 45 residents and 11 staff members testing positive for COVID19,” Feifer said. “We believe the outbreak started with a patient that was admitted to our admissions observation unit from Backus Hospital.”

Feifer said the facility is taking other precautions including screening residents andpatients for symptoms- three times daily, screening and taking temperatures of all staff upon building entry, restricting visitors and cancelling all outside medical appointments except for medically necessary, time-sensitive and life-saving treatments, such as dialysis and chemotherapy.

In response to Feifer’s statement Dr. Ajay Kumar, Executive Vice President and Chief Clinical Officer at Hartford HealthCare, which runs Backus Hospital, said “prior to being transferred to a nursing home, patients receive a COVID-19 test and must receive a negative result before leaving the hospital.”

“The nursing home is given access to the patient’s complete medical record, including the COVIDtest, and accepts the patient prior to the transfer,” Kumarsaid. “Nursing homes