Positive COVID-19 cases in two nursing homes — Charlene Manor Extended Care in Greenfield and Quabbin Valley Healthcare in Athol — continue to soar, and three COVID-19-related deaths were reported in the Athol facility Monday afternoon.
Quabbin Valley Healthcare reported eight residents and three staff members had tested positive for COVID-19 on Dec. 8, but by Monday those numbers had increased to 23 residents and 19 staff members. Three COVID-19-related deaths were reported as of 4 p.m. on Tuesday.
“We’re testing everyone every 48 hours now,” said Assistant Administrator Michael Kachadoorian.
He said the nursing home on Daniel Shays Highway does not use a nursing agency, but does have contracts to cover shifts if too many employees become infected.
“Right now we have enough people to cover all shifts,” he said.
Kachadoorian said infected staff are home isolating while residents have been moved to the nursing home’s COVID-19 unit where they are isolated from others in the building.
“We’re following all the guidance concerning COVID,” he said.
Kachadoorian said the National Guard arrived at the nursing home last week to help it through this surge, and visitors are no longer allowed in the building.
Daily updates on COVID-19 numbers at Quabbin Valley Healthcare can be found at quabbinvalleyhealthcare.com.
In Greenfield, Charlene Manor Extended Care on Colrain Road reported 46 residents and 17 employees were infected as of Monday. By comparison, a week ago on Dec. 8, the nursing home had reported five staff members and 25 of its residents had tested positive for COVID-19.
Lisa Gaudet, vice president of business development and marketing for Berkshire Healthcare, the company that owns Charlene Manor, couldn’t be reached Monday, but had said in a previous interview the facility is following all protocol and infection controls, just as it has been doing since the onset of the pandemic in mid-March. Information about new cases was found on the nursing home’s online COVID-19 dashboard at bit.ly/3a9teZ5.
Gaudet said Charlene Manor, which has 123 beds, has a unit in which all residents who test positive are moved to and quarantined.
“That’s also where people recover,” she said in the earlier interview.
No deaths have been reported during this second surge. All visits to the facility and its residents have been suspended and testing is being done weekly.
“We’re thinking it came in either with a staff member or a visitor,” she said previously. “However it happened, this surge is more virulent than the first. Even people who are saying they did everything right and are mystified by how they became infected have tested positive.”
Gaudet said the only good news at this point is that a vaccine is on the way. She said the nursing home has already signed on with CVS and Walgreens, which will administer the vaccine when it arrives.
Also in Greenfield, Buckley HealthCare Center on Laurel Street and Poet’s Seat Health Care Center on High Street currently report zero positive COVID-19 cases. Poet’s Seat Health Care Administrator Michele Carney reports the numbers whenever asked, and Buckley HealthCare reports the numbers daily at bit.ly/37izgop. Poet’s Seat’s numbers are not currently reported online.
All four nursing homes have passed recent state inspections concerning pandemic protocols.
Reach Anita Fritz at 413-772-9591 or afritz@recorder.com.