DUBOIS – An area nursing home is dealing with an outbreak of COVID-19 at its facility.
If you have been following the daily reports of COVID-19 cases in Clearfield County, you may have noticed a spike since the beginning of September. These cases are originating in DuBois, which has reported, as of Monday, a total of 45 new cases since Sept. 1.
This is the biggest outbreak yet in Clearfield County. Through Sept. 1, DuBois had a total of only 47 cases during the previous six months. Now it has a total of 92 cases.
According to a letter from the facility dated Sept. 14, the DuBois Nursing Home has had 34 resident cases and 19 staff cases. This includes one new resident case and two new staff cases reported Monday.
In the letter, the facility states “we are doing what we can to limit the spread of COVID-19 within the facility. We are taking steps based on guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the local Health Department and Emergency Management Agencies to reduce the spread and impact of COVID-19.”
The nursing home is part of the DuBois Continuum of Care Community, which also includes DuBois Village and Village View apartments.
According to information released by the Department of Health, Clearfield County has had six nursing homes with COVID cases, with 43 being residents and 12 being staff from the start of the pandemic up to Sept. 1. The only death in Clearfield County was in August and was a nursing home resident.
Christ the King Manor, also a nursing home in DuBois, is not allowing indoor visits due to the increase in cases in town. It’s allowing outside visits and have the option of virtual visits. Its Web site states that it has no current cases as of Monday.
In April, a case of COVID was reportedly detected in Mountain Laurel Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Clearfield. Mountain Laurel is owned by Guardian Elder Care, which also operates the Ridgeview Elder Care and Marion Manor, both in Curwensville. Their main office is in Brockway.
As of Monday, the breakdowns on cases in the other parts of Clearfield County are Clearfield-34, Curwensville-15, Houtzdale-21, Osceola Mills-8 and Rockton-5.
Most of the remaining areas (organized by zip codes) have one to four cases each except for Glen Hope, New Millport, Ramey, Smithmill, Troutville and Wallaceton that have none.
There are currently no COVID-19 patients in hospitals or on ventilators in Clearfield County, according to information from the state on its COVID-19 Data Dashboard.
Pennsylvania has a total of 145,063 cases (140,842 confirmed and 4,221 probable) with 82 percent of these people recovering from the disease, as of Sept. 14.
There have been 7,869 deaths in the state.