More than 150 residents and staff at nursing homes in Tennessee have tested positive for COVID-19, but unlike neighboring Georgia, the state will not say how many senior-living facilities have seen infections.
Long-term care facilities across the country have been sources of COVID-19 outbreaks – sometimes called “clusters” or “hot spots” – drawing attention for large numbers of coronavirus- related fatalities. At least 40 coronavirus deaths are connected to a Life Care nursing home in Kirkland, Washington, which emerged as an early center of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States.
Long-term care facilities are susceptible to deadly outbreaks of the virus, because close quarters help the virus to spread quickly, and COVID-19 is more likely to cause serious illness in older, unhealthy people. Eight of Hamilton County’s nine coronavirus-related deaths have been in people between the ages of 65 and 81, according to data from the county health department.
In Chattanooga, at least one COVID-19 case was confirmed in a resident at NHC HealthCare, in Glenwood, in late March. The patient tested positive for COVID-19 after being transported to the hospital, according to a letter sent from the nursing home administrator to families on March 24.
Becky Barnes, Hamilton County Health Department administrator, said during a press conference on Monday that there are currently no additional cases or known clusters of COVID-19 within nursing homes in Hamilton County.