WESTFIELD – An employee at a senior living facility in Westfield has reportedly tested positive for COVID-19.
According to the Jamestown Post-Journal, a spokesman for Absolut Care of Westfield said the employee was put into quarantine after receiving a positive test, although the date of the test was not provided.
As a result of the positive test, all Absolut Care residents and their families have been updated on the positive case. Thirty-two staff members were also immediately tested by the Chautauqua County Department of Health and were all confirmed negative.
To date, no one residing within a nursing home in Chautauqua County has tested positive for the coronavirus.
The news of the positive case comes as Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced this week that staff at all nursing homes must be tested twice a week to ensure the virus isn’t able to reach the state’s most vulnerable residents.
The elderly and people with other underlying health problems are most at risk of being hospitalized from the virus. According to the governor’s office, an 5,300 COVID-19 deaths in New York involve nursing home residents.
In response to the governor’s mandate, Heritage skilled nursing and rehabilitation communities in Chautauqua County announced Friday that they will temporarily cease all admissions effective Tuesday, May 19. The temporary admission halt will affect The Village in Gerry, The Park in Jamestown, and The Green in Greenhurst.
“The health and safety of our staff and residents are of the utmost importance,” explained newly confirmed Heritage Ministries President and CEO Lisa Haglund. “As we have been directed to move into mandated testing for all employees by Governor Cuomo’s office, we needed to determine how we could comply with all regulations and prevent any impact to resident care. Our COVID-19 response team is committed to acting in the best interest of all staff and residents.”
Also, as a result of the stepped up testing, Republican Senator George Borrello says the state needs to offer help to make sure nursing homes are able to meet the new mandate. Borrello said that testing kit availability at that volume is simply not available in many regions of the state and that most facilities do not have the resources needed to purchase tests at that scale.
“Everyone supports taking extra precautions to help protect our vulnerable nursing home residents and most facilities have been very diligent throughout this crisis in providing daily employee temperature screenings and health assessments. The Governor’s Executive Order requiring nursing home employees to be tested twice a week is good in concept, but impossible for most facilities to execute without hands-on partnership from the state,” Borrello said.
Nursing homes unable to comply would face up to a $10,000 fine per day, as well as the possible revocation of their state license.
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