At Sterling Oaks Rehabilitation, weekly updates for residents and families followed an alarming spread of the new coronavirus from no one infected in May to one sick employee in June to at least 70 infected residents by July, including up to 15 deaths.
What was initially a success story of coronavirus for the Katy area nursing home had by the end of July become one of the largest active outbreaks in a licensed Texas nursing home. It once again showed how quickly the coronavirus can spread in nursing homes, where visits for months were mostly forbidden, but staff circulated in the community without state-required routine testing.
Initially, the weekly updates at Sterling Oaks, opposite the Katy ISD football complex, were upbeat. Administrator Kelly Linker wrote about her efforts to keep the virus away, and she seemed to succeed. On May 19 and 20 – the only time Texas required all nursing homes to conduct facility-wide testing – all 103 residents and 90 staff tested negative.
The 126-bed facility, which provides short- and long-term care, did what it could, including regular deep cleansing, Linker wrote. Visits of relatives were replaced as required by video chats and phone calls. Staff were reminded to wash their hands at work and at home.
But then, as other state restrictions were lifted, cases of coronavirus began to spike in Texas. Research shows that where coronavirus occurs in communities, outbreaks of nursing homes follow. On June 22, a Sterling Oaks staff tested positive.
Two days later, a second employee did the same.
And so it went: The facility decided to test everyone and found 34 out of 104 residents had the virus.
This was terrible news: Since the beginning of the pandemic, the virus has been disproportionately lethal to nursing home residents, who are typically elderly and have pre-existing health problems.
Although Sterling Oaks was disappointed to get such results, “especially since we worked so hard to keep our facility 3 months COVID-free,” Linker wrote, it was not discouraged.
The facility formed a designated COVID-19 unit for those who were ill or potentially exposed. They plan to retake testing on facility. Province and state investigators began working on the house, which was sued in January for 18 violations of state standards.
Case count rose.
Against the August 7 update. 77 residents and 33 staff members had positive tests. (There was some discrepancy between this and the data reported to the state, which as of July 28, 81 actively showed infected residents and 28 infected employees.)
Linker, who did not return a request for comment Tuesday afternoon, wrote that 67 residents and 30 staff had been restored. But Harris County Public Health said in a statement that 89 residents and staff were still being checked.
In addition to six deaths already reported to the state, according to the county statement, nine more were under control.
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