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The nursing home with the deadliest coronavirus outbreak in the state, totaling 21 residents, is now deemed Covid-19 free.
The total deaths associated with a Covid-19 at Birchwood Terrace Rehab and Healthcare in Burlington since an outbreak started more than two months ago is double any other facility in the state.
VTDigger last reported April 29 that a total of 16 Birchwood residents who tested positive for the coronavirus had died. Back on April 6, the state reported a total of six residents at the facility had died from Covid-19.
Burlington Health and Rehabilitation Center, with 10 deaths of residents who were Covid-19 positive, has the second most deaths since the virus outbreak of any facility in the state.
Together, Birchwood and Burlington Health and Rehab account for more than half of the 55 deaths associated with the coronavirus in Vermont, according to the latest health department figures.
The department last reported a Covid-19 death on May 24.
The last resident of Birchwood who had tested positive for Covid-19 and died was on May 15.
The health department numbers show a total of 61 residents and 30 staff members at Birchwood have tested positive for Covid-19 since the outbreak. Birchwood currently has 82 residents, and roughly 150 employees, according to DiMario.
At Burlington Health and Rehab, a total of 40 residents and 28 staff, according to the health department, have tested positive.
The last staff member at Birchwood to test positive for Covid-19 was on May 8, having been exposed to the virus outside of work, according to Alecia DiMario, Birchwood’s executive director.
The last confirmed positive case of Covid-19 for a Birchwood resident was on April 22, she added.
“The facility achieved symptom resolution for all positive patients on 5/14/20 and has subsequently successfully completed a 14-day quarantine since that date,” according to DiMario. “The facility was deemed free of COVID on 5/28/20.”
Ben Truman, a spokesperson for the Vermont Department of Health, confirmed Tuesday that the Birchwood outbreak status is now listed as “resolved.”
An outbreak is resolved, according to the health department, when 14 days have passed since the last known exposure to a confirmed Covid-19 case with no additional cases, or when there have been two rounds of negative test results, one week apart, across the facility.
Birchwood, DiMario added, remains closed to visitors and nonessential personnel unless for compassionate care at the end of life.
The Scott administration has said restrictions on long-term care facilities in Vermont to help contain the spread of Covid-19, such as prohibiting most visitors, will likely be among the last lifted as those for other sectors have been slowly easing.
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