A Burlington nursing home suspended indoor visits after an employee tested positive for coronavirus earlier this week, an Elderwood spokesperson said.
The infected staff member was asymptomatic and was tested “during an unrelated medical visit,” Elderwood spokesperson Chuck Hayes wrote in an email. Hayes did not say whether the staff member was vaccinated or came in contact with residents before being diagnosed.
Hayes said the nursing home paused all visitations briefly at the advice of the state health department, but has since reopened to outdoor visits. Staff will allow a limited number of indoor meetings, including “compassionate care visits, hospice care visits, and medically or clinically necessary visits from medical professionals,” a notice on Elderwood’s website says.
The announcement comes as the state contends with an uptick of Delta infections. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says coronavirus spread is “substantial” in five of Vermont’s 14 counties, Chittenden among them. The state health department reported 88 new cases Friday, the highest count since May. State officials attributed this rise in infections to the highly contagious Delta variant, a type of coronavirus that can sometimes spread in vaccinated people. Most infections in Vermont, however, occur in unvaccinated people, according to state health officials.
Data from the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services shows that roughly 91 percent of staff and 96 percent of residents at Elderwood were vaccinated as of the end of July.
Elderwood, headquartered in Buffalo, N.Y., operates the Burlington facility. In January, regulators said the nursing home had failed to provide adequate care to its residents earlier in the pandemic. The nursing home reported coronavirus cases last November, and the outbreak quickly spread across the facility. According to federal data, the facility had no coronavirus infections at the end of July.
Representatives from the Vermont Department of Health and Vermont Department of Disabilities, Aging, and Independent Living were not immediately available for comment Friday.
— Liora Engel-Smith
