Revere quarantines senior home
1 dies, 6 infected at Jack Satter House
Revere is locking down a senior-living facility ravaged by the coronavirus, restricting the hundreds of occupants to their apartments as the number of cases in the city rises.
Seven of the 33 people who now have tested positive in Revere are from the Jack Satter House senior home in the North Shore city. Five of those seven had to be taken to the hospital, and one has died, though the cause of death remains under investigation, Revere Mayor Brian Arrigo’s office said Thursday.
“My heart goes out to the family that has lost their loved one, and to the others who continue to fight the virus,” Arrigo said in a statement. “As part of our continued effort to slow the spread of COVID-19 and protect our most vulnerable residents, we are directing further restrictions at Jack Satter House and issuing additional guidance to senior housing facilities across the city.”
He added, “COVID-19 is a highly contagious virus. It is imperative that everyone take measures to stem the spread within our community by staying at home.”
Revere is quarantining of all residents of Jack Satter House to their units, and is telling the home and other senior-living facilities in the city of around 54,000 people to update their policies and protocols.
Lou Woolf, president of Hebrew SeniorLife, a Harvard Medical School affiliate that owns Jack Satter House, said, “We know that this virus is so aggressive, that it can get past the most diligent practices. Despite the strictest guidelines in place at Jack Satter House, including no visitor policies, suspension of communal dining, deep infection control screening for all employees that include temperature checks, we are seeing an escalation of cases.”
Woolf told the Herald that the city has declared a “critical health emergency” regarding the senior affordable-living site, which houses around 285 people. He said the various Hebrew SenioirLife residences around the area, which house more than 3,000 people, have increasingly shut down over the past few weeks.
“We started getting very vigilant about social distancing,” Woolf said, adding that on March 13 they began limiting visitors to essential aides, and now they’re placing further restrictions on aides coming in. “We care for a very very vulnerable population.”
Woolf said staff are wearing masks, and they’ve removed furniture from common areas.
“If you walk into the Jack Satter House you will be seeing empty corridors,” Woolf said. He said he’s telling residents, “Imagine there were an angry rattlesnake outside your door. What would be essential to go out for in that instance, when he might snap at you?”