Two more residents of Life Care Center of Athens, Tennessee, have died after testing positive for COVID-19, bringing the number of fatalities to four, the facility reported Monday.
Also, the senior living center said the number of residents testing positive for coronavirus has hit 70, while 27 are negative. The center, which is part of Cleveland, Tennessee-based Life Care Centers of America, reported Friday that 58 residents had tested positive.
"Our residents who have tested both positive and negative for COVID-19 are checked multiple times per day for symptoms or changes in condition," said Jeffrey Ricks, the facility's executive director. "If a resident who tested negative begins showing any symptom that could be associated with COVID-19, we retest them."
Two residents remain hospitalized, the facility said.
Less than two weeks ago, the Athens center reported just four cases of coronavirus, and only one was a resident.
In addition on Monday, the center reported that 42 associates have tested positive for COVID-19, while 73 are negative. The center said 19 tests are pending.
"Our facility is a family, and we're all working together to take care of our residents and each other," said Ricks in a statement. "We remain committed to providing quality care as we fight COVID-19."
He said that if an associate tests positive, he or she is not allowed to return to work until guidelines from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are met.
Ricks said the center remains "in consistent communication with our medical director and local hospitals to ensure our residents are transferred if more acute care is needed. We are also checking in with their families frequently and providing as much support possible."
Ricks said that "our heartfelt condolences go out to the family and friends of the residents who have passed away as the result of COVID-19."
According to the Tennessee Department of Health, 60 residents of long-term-care facilities have died from the coronavirus across the state, the Tennessean reported last Friday.
The department said that at least 669 residents had tested positive for COVID-19, the newspaper reported, and the latest numbers mark an increase of 191 cases and 16 deaths over the last week.
Life Care Centers of America is the nation's largest private nursing home company.
A Life Care Centers nursing home in Kirkland, Washington, has seen more than 120 cases of coronavirus infections and at least 37 deaths. That facility emerged as an early center of the coronavirus pandemic in the U.S.
Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @MikePareTFP
Staff photo by C.B. Schmelter / Life Care Center of Athens is seen on Monday, May 4, 2020 in Athens, Tenn.