.
As outbreaks continue at nursing homes, the Cherokee County Health Department reminds everyone to help protect themselves and their loved ones.
Health Director David Badger said while nursing home residents remain in the building, staff members are part of the community who shop locally and have children in schools.
“The virus doesn’t know brick walls or concrete walls,” Badger said. “It can impact the general public in some way, shape or form.”
An outbreak is two or more cases in a facility. Both Valley View Care & Rehabilitation in Andrews and Murphy Rehabilitation & Nursing in Peachtree have ongoing outbreaks. Outbreaks are considered over when the facility is clear of positive tests for 28 days.
Since the outbreaks started in August, there have been 72 staff and residents who have tested positive at the two nursing homes combined. From Sept. 1-13, 43 of the total 98 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the county were part of the nursing home outbreaks. Deaths of nursing home residents account for three of the five deaths this month, and 40 percent of the deaths of people who tested positive in the county since March.
Badger said the county is fortunate it wasn’t affected by a nursing home outbreak sooner, noting the nursing home environment – living and working in close quarters with a very vulnerable population – has always been an issue. Nursing homes across the state have been impacted, and there’s no way to suppress it. As of Monday, there were 208 outbreaks in nursing homes across the state.
The health department has been working with both facilities to make sure they are implementing best practices.
“They’ve certainly tried their hardest,” Badger said of local nursing homes. “They’ve not done anything wrong.”
Badger said the reality is the virus is in the community, and has been since March. The state is asking anyone who is experiencing symptoms or thinks they were exposed to the virus to get tested. He encourages testing, noting the only cases being reported are the ones being tested.
“You only know about those you test,” he said.
According to the Associated Press, text messages and emails were sent to thousands of Mecklenburg County residents claiming they tested positive for the virus. However, it was only a technical glitch. Badger said Tuesday that Cherokee County does not use such a system, preferring to call.
As of Monday afternoon, the county had 119 active cases. Since March, the county has had 556 total cases, including 19 people from other states who tested positive while in the county and 10 people who passed away after testing positive.
Using data collected from 535 cases, the state reported Monday that 11 percent of the county’s cases were those ages 0-17, 9 percent were ages 18-24, 29 percent were ages 25-49, 25 percent were ages 50-64, 13 percent were ages 65-74 and 12 percent were ages 75 or older.
Anyone who experiences symptoms should contact their primary care provider, the health department or an urgent care center.
Anyone can have mild to severe symptoms, but older adults and those with underlying medical conditions appear to be at higher risk for severe illness. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention said the virus spreads easily, and risk of spreading the virus increases the closer and longer a person’s interaction.
As of Monday, North Carolina had 185,781 confirmed positive cases of COVID-19 and 3,060 deaths related to the virus since the beginning of March. More than 167,000 of those cases are presumed to be recovered.
More than 2.6 million state residents have been tested for the virus. In the last week, 4-7 percent of the tests returned positive daily.