Nursing home says officials have known about possible COVID-19 outbreak for nearly two weeks – CBS7 News

MIDLAND, Tx (KOSA) -- Twenty percent of the confirmed COVID-19 cases in Midland County are either workers or residents at the same nursing home. The question is, how long have officials known the Midland Medical Lodge had an outbreak?

CBS7 reached out to the lodge, and spoke with Assistant Director of Operations Greg Fuller.

Fuller said the first employee with a confirmed case stopped working after March 27, and received a positive test result on April 3.

We asked Fuller why it took until April 14 for the public to find out that case, and three other previously confirmed cases, all worked at the same medical care facility?

That would for sure be a health department question, Fuller said. I dont know what determines when they release that information.

So we asked the Midland Health Department, and they shared the following statement:

We made sure to report on those cases as we have with all of our confirmed cases. Up until the release, there was low concern for the spread among residents due to the mitigation efforts and infection control guidelines that Midland Medical Lodge has in place. Once we were made aware of the positive residents yesterday, we made the announcement to remain transparent and inform the public.

According to the health department, the four newest cases tied to the nursing home, three elderly residents and one worker, are all hospitalized.

The Midland Medical Lodge is a 120-bed facility that has both long term care and short term rehab residents.

Majority of our residents are in the high risk category, Fuller said. Our goal is to protect our residents. This is something that weve never dealt with before, this COVID-19, and its a scary thing. But we are very confident that our systems are in place, and working with others in the infection control world has helped us tremendously.

The medical lodge said it hasnt allowed any visitors since the middle of March.

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Nursing home says officials have known about possible COVID-19 outbreak for nearly two weeks - CBS7 News