Nursing home deaths are a third of state total

♦ In Floyd County, two of the nine COVID-19 fatalities were in long term care.

State officials report that 295 residents of Georgia longterm care facilities have died from COVID-19.

The report, released Monday, also says that more than 1,900 residents have contracted the disease within more than 200 facilities. More than 960 employees have also fallen ill.

Deaths in long-term care represent more than onethird of the state’s COVID-19 fatalities, according to state figures.

Two residents in a Floyd County facility have died. There also are 20 residents and 34 staff members who have tested positive for the disease at Rome Health and Rehabilitation Center on Redmond Road.

A single staffer tested positive at two other local nursing homes, Evergreen Health Rehabilitation Center on Moran Lake Road and Seven Hills Place on Technology Parkway. No resident infections or deaths have been reported.

The 56 infections account for 44% of the 126 COVID-19 cases in Floyd County as of Sunday afternoon.

The most deaths have occurred at Pruitthealth Palmyra in Albany, where 16 residents have died. More than 100 residents of that nursing home have tested positive for COVID-19, as have 47 employees.

Albany has emerged as a hot spot for the disease in Georgia,

with among the highest death rates in the nation. The city is the seat of Dougherty County, which has reported 98 deaths.

The president of the residents’ council at the Palmyra nursing home, Mary Philmon, told GHN on Thursday that she recently tested positive for COVID-19. “I haven’t had any symptoms,’’ she said.

“We stay in our rooms,’’ she added. “They want to keep us safe.’’

The total of long-term care deaths is three times what the state reported two weeks ago, when Gov. Brian Kemp told reporters he had signed an executive order requiring aggressive infection control measures to curb outbreaks of COVID-19 at long-term care sites.

Older people, and those with chronic and serious medical conditions, are more vulnerable to the disease, which overall had claimed 775 lives in the state as of Monday evening.the Georgia report includes COVID-19 activity for nursing homes, assisted living communities, and personal care homes of 25 beds or more.

Other Georgia facilities hard hit by the virus include Arbor Terrace in Atlanta, where 15 residents have died and a total of 52 have tested positive.

Others are Dawson Health and Rehabilitation in Dawson, with 13 deaths; Joe-anne Burgin Nursing Home in Cuthbert, where 11 have died; and Pruitthealth Grandview in Athens, with 11 deaths. Ten residents have died at both Harborview Health Systems in Thomaston, and Pelham Parkway Nursing Home in Pelham.