In the past several weeks, there has only been one positive COVID-19 case among nursing home residents in West Hartford.

By Christine Stuart, CTNewsJunkie.com

West Hartford-specific information provided by Ronni Newton, We-Ha.com

Connecticut’s nursing homes, which were ravaged by COVID-19 in March, April and May, only had 16 cases and 10 deaths between July 22 and Aug. 11, according to the Department of Public Health.

One resident at Hughes Health and Rehabilitation in West Hartford tested positive during the week of Aug. 5-11, according to DPH..

There have been a total of 8,777 COVID-19 positive cases at nursing homes and 2,849 deaths since the start of the pandemic. That means that nursing homes are responsible for about 64% of all COVID deaths in Connecticut.

As things continue to improve, there are even fewer cases among nursing home staff. DPH reports that between Aug. 5 and Aug. 11 there have been only 10 new confirmed cases.

A total of 246 staff have tested positive to date, and according to the state, three nursing home workers have died since the state started tracking the information.

There have been 1,082 positive cases at assisted living facilities and six new cases as of August 11. Two of those new cases were residents at Brookdale Chatfield in West Hartford.

From the start of the pandemic through July 14, 379 assisted living residents died of COVID-related illness, according to DPH. There were no deaths reported since then.

Gov. Ned Lamont required all staff and residents at nursing homes to get tested back in mid-June.

If a nursing home can remain free of COVID-19 infections for two consecutive weeks it will no longer face the mandatory testing requirements under Lamont’s executive order.

“If you have facility that tests completely negative, both staff and residents for 14 consecutive days, then the repetitive testing is no longer required,” Lamont’s Chief Operating Officer, Josh Geballe, has said.

The facilities are responsible for reporting the data to the state. The associations that represent the nursing homes and assisted living facilities said the numbers are trending in the right direction, but there are still new cases.

“While the lower numbers of COVID-19 cases in these congregate settings has remained constant for several weeks and points to an overall path of recovery, the report of new cases unfortunately also reminds us that the pandemic is not over and the deadly virus continues to pose a threat to long term care settings,” Mag Morelli, of LeadingAge Connecticut, and Matthew Barrett, president and CEO the Connecticut Association of Health Care Facilities/Connecticut Center for Assisted Living, said.

Republished with permission from CTNewsJunkie.com, all rights reserved.

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