Free Daily Headlines :

  • COVID-19
  • Vaccine Info
  • Money
  • Politics
  • Education
  • Health
  • Justice
  • More
    • Environment
    • Economic Development
    • Gaming
    • Investigations
    • Social Services
    • TRANSPORTATION
  • Opinion
    • CT Viewpoints
    • CT Artpoints
DONATE
Reflecting Connecticut’s Reality.
    COVID-19
    Vaccine Info
    Money
    Politics
    Education
    Health
    Justice
    More
    Environment
    Economic Development
    Gaming
    Investigations
    Social Services
    TRANSPORTATION
    Opinion
    CT Viewpoints
    CT Artpoints

LET�S GET SOCIAL

Show your love for great stories and out standing journalism

CT will open fourth recovery facility as COVID cases in nursing homes keep rising

  • COVID-19
  • by Jenna Carlesso
  • November 24, 2020
  • View as "Clean Read" "Exit Clean Read"

Cloe Poisson :: CTMirror.org

Westfield Care & Rehabilitation in Meriden is one of three nursing home facilities in the state that serve COVID-positive nursing home residents. The other facilities are in Wallingford and East Hartford. A fourth facility in Torrington will open in December.

With COVID-19 infections on the rise again in nursing homes, the state is opening a fourth recovery center to accommodate more COVID-positive residents.

The recovery centers are meant to alleviate stress on nursing homes by allowing residents infected with COVID-19 to be transferred there for care. The centers also accept COVID-positive patients who are discharged from hospitals and residents from assisted living facilities who have contracted the virus.

Torrington Health & Rehabilitation Center, a shuttered nursing home that was reopened this year with support from the state, will begin receiving sick residents during the first week of December. It had served as a recovery center during the first coronavirus surge last spring but recently closed as the need for that space dropped. The facility has 120 beds for COVID-positive residents, and officials said they will be available “incrementally” – 30 beds at a time, as needed.

The three other facilities are Westfield Care & Rehabilitation in Meriden, Quinnipiac Valley Center in Wallingford and Riverside Care & Rehabilitation in East Hartford. Quinnipiac and Riverside each have a wing devoted to COVID-positive residents from other nursing homes and hospitals. The entire facilities in Meriden and Torrington are dedicated to COVID-positive residents.

As of Monday, 16 of the 34 available beds were occupied at Quinnipiac and 39 of the 90 beds were filled at Riverside, state officials said. Meriden, which was open in the spring, closed over the summer because of low demand and reopened earlier this month, had 44 of its 60 beds filled as of Tuesday. The facility has another 30 beds it can bring online if needed.

Timothy Brown, a spokesman for Athena Health Care Systems, the company managing the Meriden and Torrington facilities, said the Meriden facility is now considering opening the remaining 30 beds but must bring on additional staff.

State health officials said the average length of stay at the facilities is 10 to 15 days, though it can vary. The Meriden facility has an average of four to five new admissions per day, Brown said.

Coronavirus cases among nursing home residents and staff have swelled recently. Between Oct. 28 and Nov. 3, 113 new resident infections were recorded in nursing homes. From Nov. 4 to 10, the number of new cases jumped to 254. And from Nov. 11 to 17, the number of new cases increased to 306.

From the beginning of the pandemic through Nov. 17, the most recent data available, there have been a total of 9,867 resident cases. COVID-19 deaths among nursing home residents reached 3,018.

The state has recorded 1,240 staff cases since June 17 (it did not track the numbers prior to that, but federal data show more than 3,400 nursing home employees in Connecticut have been infected with COVID-19 or were presumed to have the disease). Two hundred and sixty-two new staff cases were logged between Nov. 11 and 17 alone.

Dr. Vivian Leung, coordinator of the Healthcare Associated Infections Program at the Department of Public Health, said Tuesday that over the past week, there were 61 nursing homes with coronavirus cases among staff only; 17 with cases among residents only; and 44 cases among both staff and residents.

As the holiday weekend approaches, Acting Public Health Commissioner Deidre Gifford and Long-term Care Ombudswoman Mairead Painter sent a letter urging families of nursing homes residents to take precautions.

Virtual visits via Skype or Zoom are considered “low risk,” they wrote, while visits at the nursing homes are deemed “low-to-medium risk” and taking a relative home for a celebration with immediate family is considered “medium-to-high risk.”

Bringing a loved one home for a gathering with people from multiple households, or doing so without following mask or social distancing guidelines, is deemed “very high risk” behavior.

Nursing home residents who leave their facilities during the holidays may be asked to quarantine for 14 days upon their return.

“We understand the toll that isolation caused by visitation restrictions in long-term care communities has taken on our residents,” they wrote. “However, our state is currently experiencing higher community-based transmission levels of COVID-19 and this could increase the risk that in-person visitation poses to residents and staff.”

Health officials have said that every nursing home resident in the state will be tested for COVID-19 beginning on Dec. 1 out of an abundance of caution following the holiday weekend.

Sign up for CT Mirror's free daily news summary.

Free to Read. Not Free to Produce.

The Connecticut Mirror is a nonprofit newsroom. 90% of our revenue comes from people like you. If you value our reporting please consider making a donation. You'll enjoy reading CT Mirror even more knowing you helped make it happen.

YES, I'LL DONATE TODAY

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jenna Carlesso is CT Mirror’s Health Reporter, focusing on health access, affordability, quality, equity and disparities, social determinants of health, health system planning, infrastructure, processes, information systems, and other health policy. Before joining CT Mirror Jenna was a reporter at The Hartford Courant for 10 years, where she consistently won statewide and regional awards. Jenna has a Master of Science degree in Interactive Media from Quinnipiac University and a Bachelor or Arts degree in Journalism from Grand Valley State University.

SEE WHAT READERS SAID

RELATED STORIES
Health issues carried weight on the campaign trail.
by Victoria Knight | Kaiser Health News

Even with the Democrats’ newfound Senate majority, differences in health policy between the party’s moderate and progressive wings will persist.

Trump’s pardons included health care execs behind massive fraud
by Fred Schulte | Kaiser Health News

At the last minute, President Donald Trump granted pardons to several individuals convicted in huge Medicare swindles that prosecutors alleged often harmed or endangered elderly and infirm patients while fleecing taxpayers. “These aren’t just technical financial crimes. These were major, major crimes,” said Louis Saccoccio, chief executive officer of the National Health Care Anti-Fraud Association, […]

‘It’s a nightmare:’ A growing number of seniors are unable to book vaccine appointments as problems mount
by Dave Altimari and Jenna Carlesso

The state acknowledged Friday in an email to local health workers that some residents are waiting days for a callback.

Vaccinations in nursing homes top 64,000; COVID cases are dropping rapidly among residents
by Dave Altimari

There were 238 COVID infections reported in nursing homes last week, down from 483 a few weeks ago.

Advocates call on state to improve response to vulnerable students
by Adria Watson

State child advocate Sarah Eagan and attorney Martha Stone want the state to do more for these students during COVID.

Support Our Work

Show your love for great stories and outstanding journalism.

$
Select One
  • Monthly
  • Yearly
  • Once
Artpoint painter
CT ViewpointsCT Artpoints
Opinion Miguel Cardona, who are you?
by Ann Policelli Cronin

When I ask Connecticut teachers about Miguel Cardona, those who know him or have worked with him say that he is really nice guy who knows what the challenges in our classrooms are, knows how to help teachers to improve their teaching, and respects public schools. All good. But what is his vision for teaching and learning that he will bring to the U.S. Department of Education?

Opinion Connecticut needs a strong two-party system, this Democrat says
by Edward Marcus

J.R. Romano’s recent resignation as the state’s Republican Party chair has brought into focus the need for a viable opposition party in Connecticut. It is not healthy politics when everything is totally controlled by one party:  the legislature, the governorship, and most of the major municipalities in our state.

Opinion Connecticut’s $100 million college shell game
by Stephen Adair

The plan to consolidate the 12 community colleges in Connecticut into one college with 12 campuses is called “Students First,” which is ironic because it does not fund students first.  It funds a new administration in a new, statewide bureaucracy. The Board of Regents (BOR) and the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities (CSCU) system office […]

Opinion Inconsistent television captioning is a barrier to equal access
by Jeffrey Bravin and Barbara Cassin

Our world long ago entered the age of the 24-hour news cycle, and a full understanding of the “who, what, when, where and why” of the news is critical for deaf, deafblind and hard of hearing citizens. Yet, Connecticut’s inconsistent quality of television captioning locks our community out of the complete sense of what is happening.

Artwork Grand guidance
by Anne:Gogh

In a world of systemic oppression aimed towards those of darker skintones – representation matters. We are more than our equity elusive environments, more than numbers in a prison and much more than victims of societal dispositions. This piece depicts a melanated young man draped in a cape ascending high above multiple forms of oppression. […]

Artwork Shea
by Anthony Valentine

Shea is a story about race and social inequalities that plague America. It is a narrative that prompts the question, “Do you know what it’s like to wake up in new skin?”

Artwork The Declaration of Human Rights
by Andres Chaparro

Through my artwork I strive to create an example of ideas that reflect my desire to raise social consciousness, and cultural awareness. Jazz music is the catalyst to all my work, and plays a major influence in each piece of work.”

Artwork ‘A thing of beauty. Destroy it forever’
by Richard DiCarlo | Derby

During times like these it’s often fun to revisit something familiar and approach things with a different slant. I have been taking some Pop culture and Art masterpieces and applying the vintage 1960’s and 70’s classic figures (Fisher Price, little people) to the make an amusing pieces. Here is my homage to Fisher -Price, Yellow […]

Twitter Feed
A Twitter List by CTMirror

Engage

  • Reflections Tickets & Sponsorships
  • Events
  • Donate
  • Newsletter Sign-Up
  • Submit to Viewpoints
  • Submit to ArtPoints
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Commenting Guidelines
  • Legal Notices
  • Contact Us

About

  • About CT Mirror
  • Announcements
  • Board
  • Staff
  • Sponsors and Funders
  • Donors
  • Friends of CT Mirror
  • History
  • Financial
  • Policies
  • Strategic Plan

Opportunity

  • Advertising and Sponsorship
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Use of Photography
  • Work for Us

Go Deeper

  • Steady Habits Podcast
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Five Things

The Connecticut News Project, Inc. 1049 Asylum Avenue, Hartford, CT 06105. Phone: 860-218-6380

© Copyright 2021, The Connecticut News Project. All Rights Reserved. Website by Web Publisher PRO