More than two dozen new cases of Seaweed-19 were found between both the employee and the resident at the statebank accommodation facility at Fairbanks.
Since September 21, 28 new cases of the disease have been reported from the new coronavirus, state health officials said in a written announcement on Tuesday afternoon.
Nine of the new cases at home were among residents and 19 among staff members. Staff have been being investigated twice a week since September 22, when a positive case was reported in a staff member, DHSS officials said.
Since Monday, residents of the home have been tested twice a week, and if they start showing symptoms of the virus, it was tested earlier, officials said in a release. Another resident and five other staff members have previously recovered from the illness.
New cases have erupted this past summer at Anchorage Pioneer Home, resulting in a number of resident deaths.
Covid-1 poses a particularly high risk for nursing homes and long-term care facilities as it often involves aggregated settings and residents who are particularly susceptible to illness, according to the Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In September, the New York Times reported that nursing homes in the country accounted for the total V% of coronavirus cases, while they accounted for 0% of the country’s deaths from the disease.
“We are emphasizing the importance of in-house infection control procedures and safe practices when we are outside staff in the community. However, the growing number of cases at Fairbanks has made it very challenging to keep COVID-19 out of the facility because our staff live and communicate within the community where the disease has spread, ”said Deputy Commissioner Clinton Lasley in a statement.
Residents with positive test results were different and would be dedicated to staff when possible and there would be employees who tested positive at home positively, the health department said.
In a statement, the state’s chief medical officer, Dr. N. Zink, urged Alaska to “re-evaluate their routines and behaviors when they are out of the house.”
He asked Alaska to continue wearing masks, stay six feet or more from others and keep their social circles small.
“We are seeing a very large number of cases in many communities across the state. And as we see in Fairbank, this could increase the risk for some of our most vulnerable citizens, ”Zink said.
