141 COVID-19 cases, 23 deaths reported in these two Manatee County nursing homes
More than 20 people have died of COVID-19 at two Manatee County nursing homes run by the same company.
Between the Braden River Rehabilitation Center and the Riviera Palms Rehabilitation Center, 141 people residents and staff have tested positive for the novel coronavirus. According to a spokeswoman, 23 of them have died.
A spokeswoman announced Thursday morning that 27 current patients and 28 staff members at Riviera Palms were positive. Twelve have died. At Braden River, 37 current residents and 26 staff had tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Eleven have died.
The spokeswoman did not explain whether the death toll included any staff members.
“Unfortunately, as it has in so many other places, COVID-19 worked its way into our facility,” A.J. Kusmierz, the facility’s administrator, said in a statement. “Our concern goes out to all who are suffering, and we grieve for the treasured members of the Braden River Rehab Center family who have passed during the pandemic due to COVID-19 or to underlying health conditions that may have been complicated by COVID-19.”
All of the deaths linked to nursing facilities were not included in the health department’s tally of cases. As of Thursday morning, the health department reported that only 16 deaths were linked to long-term care centers in Manatee County.
The announcement by the nursing homes comes just days after Dr. Jennifer Bencie, the county’s top health officer, implied that the situation was dire in those facilities in a briefing with the Manatee Board of County Commissioners Tuesday morning.
At the time, Bencie said 103 of the county’s officially reported coronavirus cases stemmed from two facilities run by the same company. Of the eight long-term care facilities in Manatee County with positive cases, only Braden River and Riviera Palms Rehabilitation Center met that criteria. Both are owned and operated by Southern Healthcare Management, LLC.
“What happened about three weeks ago were two large nursing homes in the community — 320-bed capacity total, plus staff — they were not completely occupied at the time. However, they were owned by the same company,” Bencie told commissioners.
“The company took it upon themselves to test all of the staff and clients when they started seeing the uptick. Getting those tests back in the last week, 66 residents and 37 staff, for a total of 103 in those two facilities, were positive,” she added.
Braden River Rehabilitation Center, 2010 Manatee Ave. E., has 208 licensed beds. Riviera Palms Rehabilitation Center, 926 Haben Blvd., Palmetto, is a 120-bed facility.
The Bradenton Herald learned earlier this week that other local facilities have fewer cases. The Residence at Bay Vue shared that two staff members had tested positive. At Westminster Point Pleasant, only one patient tested positive.
Manatee ranks No. 4 behind Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties in the number of reported COVID-19 cases in long-term care facilities.
According to Bencie, the focus has shifted to monitoring and tracking health care workers who work in those facilities because of their contact with COVID-19 patients and the outside community.
“We know that visitors were not allowed to come in to these facilities for more than a month now,” she said. “We need to keep an eye on the staff. They’re the ones coming and bringing it in because they may be asymptomatic.”
Bencie also explained that the Department of Health has sent assessment teams to each of the eight long-term care facilities to implement infectious disease control protocols. Some of those recommendations have been to identify a sink for nurses to wash hands after touching a patient or using shoe guards and gowns.
“These teams have done an amazing job of getting in and putting control measures in place,” said Bencie.
This story was originally published April 23, 2020 at 10:25 AM.
