10 facilities in state with virus outbreaks
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment on Friday night identified nine of the 10 nursing homes and long-term care facilities in the state suffering from outbreaks of the coronavirus after a Denver Post request under the Colorado Open Records Act prompted them to open their books.
The facilities include two in Weld County, two in Larimer County and one facility each in El Paso, Chaffee, Arapahoe, Adams and Jefferson counties, according to a letter from the agency’s records custodian.
The name of the 10th facility was not released Saturday.
On March 22, state health officials announced five outbreaks of COVID-19, the highly infectious respiratory illness caused by the virus, at facilities across the state, but for days have remained mum on how many people were infected, how many residents or staff members were exposed and the locations of these
homes.
In response to a Denver Post request under the state’s open records act, the Colorado public health agency declined to identify any details on how many people have been infected or exposed at these facilities. Officials there did, however, for the first time provide a list of the facilities where outbreaks have occurred:
• North Shore Health & Rehab Facility, Larimer County.
• Fairacres Manor, Weld County.
• Laurel Manor Care Center, El Paso County.
• Columbine Manor Care Center, Chaffee County.
• Centennial Healthcare Center, Weld County.
• Brookdale North Loveland, Larimer County.
• Libby Bortz Assisted Living, Arapahoe County.
• Inglenook At Brighton, Adams County.
• Mapleton Care Center, Jefferson County.
Six residents and one staff member at the Inglenook At Brighton facility have tested positive for COVID-19, Ralph Borrego, the facility’s director of nursing, told The Denver Post on Saturday. All residents are isolated in the memory care unit and recovering well, he said, while the staff member has been isolating at home for more than a week.
“They are all up, no fevers for past four to five days, eating, drinking and exercising,” Borrego said, adding that none of the residents in the independent and assisted living section of the facility have displayed any symptoms. “It is 100% contained within that unit.”
At Brookdale North Loveland, one resident tested positive at a hospital, but facility management disputed the state listing it as having an outbreak.
“It’s incorrect,” Millie Neumann, the facility’s health wellness director, said Saturday, adding that health officials could not determine if the individual contracted the illness at the facility or in the hospital. “We have seen no signs or symptoms of our staff or other residents.”
Columbine Manor Care Center in Salida has seen two residents test positive along with one worker, the facility’s executive director said on its website. Fifteen residents had been tested as of Friday, with four tests coming back negative and nine more results pending, executive director Joshua Finger wrote. Several staff members have tested negative.
Mapleton Care Center in Lakewood confirmed two residents have contracted the new coronavirus and remain in isolation, the facility said Saturday in a statement.
County health officials previously announced positive cases at two facilities along the Front Range included in Friday’s list: On March 19, El Paso County health officials reported at least six COVID-19 cases at the Laurel Manor Care Center in Colorado Springs. On March 17, officials announced that a resident and a staffer at North Shore Health and
Rehab Facility in Loveland had tested positive.
Representatives at North Shore Health and Rehab, Laurel Manor, Fairacres Manor, Centennial Healthcare Center and Libby Bortz Assisted Living could not be reached for comment immediately.
Outbreaks at nursing homes and other long-term care facilities are especially concerning because people over 60 have been identified as being at higher risk of contracting the respiratory illness.
An outbreak at a residential care facility in a Seattle suburb has been linked to at least 37 deaths, prompting health officials to place increased attention on protecting people at similar facilities nationwide.