A COVID-19 outbreak at a Surry County long term care facility has sickened at least 27 staff members and residents, and claimed the lives of three residents.
PruittHealth, a skilled nursing and rehabilitation center in Elkin, has seen 12 of its staffers and 15 residents test positive for COVID-19, according to the Surry County Health and Nutrition Center. Three of the residents have died from the virus.
“The three associated deaths in this facility all involved residents in their eighties or nineties with underlying medical conditions,” the center said. As is the health and nutrition center’s custom, officials there released no additional information on the victims to protect the privacy of their families.
“According to PruittHealth, residents of the facility who have tested positive for COVID-19 have been isolated from others to stop further spread of the virus,” the health and nutrition center said. “PruittHealth has also implemented enhanced infection control protocols, including increasing cleaning frequency, postponing communal activities, ceasing visitation, screening staff and patients daily, and additional testing of staff and residents. Surry County Health and Nutrition Center will continue to closely monitor the situation and will remain in daily contact with the facility, and our partners at NC Department of Health and Human Services regarding this situation.”
Tuesday’s revelation of the outbreak apparently also includes the county’s ninth reported death from COVID-19. Two days earlier, on Sunday, the health center had reported the county’s eighth death.
In that statement the Surry County Health and Nutrition Center said that victim died on July 31. The center’s officials did not release additional information on the victim, other than to say the person was in his or her late 60s with some underlying medical conditions.
“Every COVID-19 death represents a person who had family and friends. Our heartfelt condolences go out to those who have lost loved ones due to COVID-19,” said Surry County Health Director Samantha Ange. “With the increased rate of community transmission in Surry County, it is absolutely critical that we each do our part to reduce our chances of acquiring or transmitting COVID-19.”
The July 31 death, and the apparent death of another person since then, marks the third and fourth deaths in a ten-day period, and the sixth and seventh death over the previous three weeks.
As of Tuesday morning, the latest for which figures were available, 877 cases have been confirmed in Surry County, putting it at the forefront of total cases among nearly all neighboring counties. Only the more metropolitan Forsyth County has had a higher case count, with 4,955 cases and 48 deaths as of Monday morning. The state Department of Health and Human Services had not updated its figures Tuesday as of 12:15 p.m.
Of the other bordering counties, Yadkin County has 496 total cases with 6 deaths, Wilkes County has 736 cases with 10 deaths, Stokes County has recorded 266 confirmed cases and 3 deaths, while Alleghany County has 156 confirmed cases with no deaths, all as of Monday.
Statewide, North Carolina has now recorded 126,532 confirmed cases, with 1,982 deaths.
Across the border in Virginia, Carroll County has 304 total cases with 12 deaths, Galax has 341 confirmed cases with 24 deaths, Grayson County has recorded 144 cases with 5 deaths, and Patrick County has 118 confirmed cases and 3 deaths. Statewide, Virginia has 90,728 confirmed cases, with 2,244 deaths.
Nationwide, there have been 4.73 million confirmed cases in the United States, with 155,930 confirmed deaths. By comparison, the CDC says there were an estimated 35.5 million people who contracted the flu during the 2019-2020 flu season, with 34,200 deaths. In the 2017-2018 flu season, the worst in the United States in the past decade, CDC figures show 44.8 million infections, with 61,099 deaths.
During the last flu pandemic, during the 2009-2010 flu season — which the CDC characterized as the first influenza pandemic in at least 40 years — there were an estimated 60.8 million cases in the United States, with 12,469 deaths.
“Surry County Health and Nutrition Center would like to once again reiterate the importance of taking the threat of COVID-19 seriously and remembering to protect yourselves and your loved ones by wearing a cloth face covering when in public, waiting at least 6 feet from others, avoiding crowded settings, and washing your hands frequently and thoroughly,” the agency said in its statement.
“The COVID-19 outbreak has been accompanied by a flood of misinformation from unreliable sources. Be thoughtful about what you read or hear about the virus and make sure you are separating rumor from fact before you act.”
To stay up to date on COVID-19 in North Carolina, visit ncdhhs.gov/coronavirus or text COVIDNC to 898211. Call 2-1-1, or 888-892-1162, for general questions or for help finding human services resources in your community.
Source: https://www.mtairynews.com
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