Pruitt Health in Macon has 76 coronavirus cases. Here’s why nursing homes are high risk spots

A Macon nursing home has been hit hard with 76 COVID-19 cases, and nursing homes across the country are facing similar challenges.

Pruitt Health - Macon has 68 patients and 8 employees with confirmed cases of the new coronavirus.

The nursing home says 113 patients and staff have tested negative, and they’re waiting on seven test results. Pruitt Health initially reported 24 cases Tuesday.

A nationwide problem

Nursing homes and other long-term care facilities have been hotbeds of COVID-19 across Georgia and the United States.

A Washington state nursing home had several outbreaks of the virus, including one with more than 35 deaths. The facility, Life Care Center of Kirkland, is facing more than $600,000 in fines and other sanctions after federal and state officials found the facility broke federal regulations and state procedures.

In New Jersey, the Andover Subacute and Rehabilitation Center I and II has 76 patients have tested positive for the virus and 41 staff members are sick as well. Out of the 68 recent deaths in the facility, 26 people tested positive for the coronavirus.

Freedom Square Seminole Nursing Pavilion in Seminole, Florida, has 28 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and other residents of the facility are going to be tested.

NBCNews reported on April 10 that long-term care facilities have seen more than 2,200 COVID-19 deaths based on responses from 24 states.

The CDC notes that nursing home populations are at the highest risk of COVID-19 infections, since residents are typically older adults with underlying medical conditions.

Georgia reports nursing home cases

Four days later, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s office reported 138 long-term care facilities had at least one case of COVID-19. A Pruitt Health location in Albany, one of the early hotspots for the coronavirus in Georgia, had more than 70 COVID-19 cases according to the governor’s report.

Pruitt Health announced on April 8 that several of its facilities were operating at “Alert Code Red” status after having at least one presumptive case of COVID-19, including its Macon location on Anthony road.

“PruittHealth - Macon has been strictly following enhanced infection control protocols, including increasing cleaning frequency, postponing communal activities, ceasing visitation, screening staff and patients daily, restricting staff to only essential personnel, and ceasing new admissions. Additionally, the National Guard has been to the center twice this week to help deep clean the center,” an email from Pruitt Health’s Communications Department read. “We also are monitoring to ensure the appropriate supplies of personal protective equipment.”

In some cases, Pruitt Health is accepting staff from other facilities to help in “Code Red” centers, and they are monitoring staffing levels, according to the email.

Pruitt Health runs three nursing home facilities in Macon, including Pruitt Health - Eastside and Pruitt Health - Peake, which both have a confirmed COVID-19 case, according to Georgia’s most recent a long-term care facility report. That report, which is dated April 14 but contains data through April 12, only lists one confirmed case at the Anthony Road location.

Bibb County COVID-19 case numbers

Although Pruitt Health is reporting 76 cases of COVID-19, not all of those cases are necessarily counted as part of the 95 Bibb County cases because of the way the Georgia Department of Public Health reports data.

Michael Hokanson, spokesman for the North Central Health District, said in an email that the numbers DPH reports twice per day are based on the county the person lists as their permanent address. In other words, if a person living in a nursing home in Bibb County records Twiggs County as their legal residence, they will be counted as a Twiggs County coronavirus case.

Three other nursing homes in Bibb County have had either a resident or staff member test positive for COVID-19: Archway Transitional Care Center on Houston Avenue, Macon Rehab & Healthcare on Coliseum Drive and Zebulon Park Health and Rehabilitation on Plantation Way.

If you live or work in a Middle Georgia long-term care facility, or have a loved one who lives there, and would like to contact a Telegraph reporter, email jeason@macon.com.