What is a coronavirus “cluster?” It depends on who’s answering the question.
Some spokespeople for places on the list of local cluster spots released by the Hamilton County Health Department in response to a Times Free Press request said they weren’t surprised to learn they were designated as such, while others questioned why their facility made the list.
“We had 17 of our staff, all tested positive, basically at the same time,” said David McNabb, president and CEO of Adult and Teen Challenge Mid South, a residential care facility for people with substance use disorders. “It didn’t surprise me that we’re on somebody’s map as being a hotspot.”
Even with safety protocols in place, the virus managed to find its way into the facility, McNabb said.
“Probably the first positive test that we had, based here on campus, was probably right around the first of September,” he said. “We don’t know how it entered the campus, and we don’t know exactly how it was transferred.”