COVID-19 numbers remain high in Grand Forks nursing homes amid ‘uncontrolled community spread’ – Grand Forks Herald

This week, Grand Forks County tallied a record number of infections. Grand Forks Public Health Director Debbie Swanson said no longer are the county's COVID-19 numbers driven by individual outbreaks as they were early in the pandemic. Instead, she said the county is watching numbers rise due to uncontrolled spread throughout the community.

On Thursday, Oct. 22, 25 staff members and five residents have COVID-19 at Valley Senior Living on Columbia, the highest number of confirmed active cases at any Grand Forks senior living facility. Woodside Village has 11 staff members who have tested positive for COVID-19, Edgewood Parkwood Place has four positive staff members and three positive residents, and Wheatland Terrace has four positive staff members. There are no active cases of COVID-19 in Maple View Memory Care, St. Ann's Guest House or Tufte Manor, according to NDDOH.

Sally Grosgebauer, a spokesperson for Valley Senior Living, which operates multiple homes in Grand Forks, said nine residents are being treated at the organization's shared Covid Care Area at Valley Senior Living on Columbia. Of those, two are hospitalized. The number of patients in the Covid Care Area is down from last week, when there were 23 patients.

On Thursday, there were 609 active positive cases in Grand Forks County, including 59 new active positives reported Thursday morning. Forty-five people were reported to have newly recovered on Thursday.

Altru Health System Director of Quality and Safety Kari Jensen reported that, as cases have risen in Grand Forks, the hospital also has recorded an uptick in inpatients with COVID-19 over the past few weeks.

Though COVID-19 has stretched hospital resources thin throughout the state in recent weeks, Jensen said capacity at Altru changes constantly throughout the day. On Thursday, she reported there were 14 inpatients being treated for COVID-19, down from 21 the day before.

Data reported to NDDOH by Altru indicate that on Thursday, there were 16 available non-ICU beds at Altru, and one available ICU bed.

According to Jensen, there are beds available in the hospital's COVID-19 units, but an Altru spokesperson did not provide the exact number of available beds in COVID-19 versus non-COVID-19 units.

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COVID-19 numbers remain high in Grand Forks nursing homes amid 'uncontrolled community spread' - Grand Forks Herald