Vaccinated staff at two county organizations test positive
Employees and one patient at a Boulder County short-term rehabilitation center as well as at a longterm care facility recently tested positive for coronavirus even though they previously had all been vaccinated.
These positive cases are two of three COVID-19 outbreaks recently reported in the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s weekly update of outbreak data.
According to data from CDPHE, the outbreak at Flatirons Health & Rehab in Louisville was determined Monday. There is a delay in time from when the outbreaks occur and when they are reported to the state, wrote Brian Spencer, spokesperson for the Colorado State Joint Information Center in an email.
The outbreak involved one resident case and two staff members cases, according to CDPHE data.
Stacie Degoey, director of nursing at Flatirons Health and Rehab in Louisville, said the patient tested positive for the virus Aug. 27. She said one staff member had a “probable” case because the test was negative even though they displayed symptoms for the virus. The other staff member tested positive Aug. 31.
All three people were vaccinated at the time. The cases were unrelated, and no positive cases have been confirmed since, Degoey said.
She said both employees have since recovered from the virus and the patient is no longer at the facility.
Three COVID-19 cases were determined Sept. 3 at Katherine & Charles Hover Green Houses in Longmont, according to CDPHE data. The cases involved three staff members, all of which were vaccinated before testing positive for the virus, said Stacey Love, nursing home administrator with the Green Houses.
“We had a staff member that wasn’t feeling well that came in and did the rapid test,” Love said. “Based on that, she did have a positive rapid test.”
Love said the first positive case was determined Aug. 30. The organization tested all other employees and residents the same day. Two other residents tested positive for the virus.
“All of our elders are fine,” she said. “During our second round of testing, everyone came back negative.”
The organization plans to test all employees and residents again Friday.
Love said the two other employees that tested positive were asymptomatic.
At the beginning of the pandemic, two residents tested positive for the virus, Love said. Since then, no other residents have tested positive.
“I think one of the biggest factors that has kept our elders safe is the physical structure of the building,” she said. “We always do our best to have consistent staff. We also do a lot of bleaching and cleaning and washing hands.”
The third outbreak was determined Sept. 3 at the Boulder Shelter for the Homeless and involved five resident cases.
Shelter CEO Greg Harms said five resident cases were determined between Aug. 16 and Aug. 30.
He said the shelter does not know the vaccination status of its residents or whether they exhibited COVID-19 symptoms.
He said the shelter has worked with Boulder County Public Health since March 2020 to mitigate the spread of the virus. Steps the shelter has taken include: increasing social distancing by reducing the number of beds in the shelter; using hotel rooms as a sheltering option for those who are most vulnerable; requiring all staff, volunteers and residents to wear masks; requiring all staff and volunteers in the facility to be fully vaccinated; using incentives to encourage residents to get tested and to get vaccinated; conducting weekly or twice-weekly testing at the shelter; and holding regular vaccination clinics at the shelter.
The outbreak at Everest Mechanical in Longmont was resolved Sept. 1, according to CDPHE data. Editors have determined publishing routine stories about Boulder County businesses and other establishments that determined to be the site of a coronavirus outbreak is no longer useful as a measure of tracking the ongoing pandemic. The newspaper still will publish stories about outbreaks that are deemed newsworthy.