A Connecticut nursing home has come under scrutiny after a series of COVID-19 infections and several deaths occurred. According to CBS, Greer Village Senior Community, a nursing home and rehabilitation center in Canaan, had 89 cases including eight deaths from late September to the end of October.
Starting around the beginning of October, the Greer nursing home reported three positive COVID-19 cases. In the ensuing month and a half, in addition to the eight fatalities among residents, 67 residents and 22 staff members have been infected with the virus. Administrators with the nursing home announced that 48 residents and 21 staff members have successfully recovered from the virus.
The Greer Village Senior Community houses only 70 residents, meaning only three residents avoided infection. The senior community has announced that all eight residents who died had serious underlying health issues. The nursing home also claims that of the 89 total infections, 87 people were fully vaccinated, according to NBC Connecticut.
Nursing home officials stated that, "While we must continue with COVID-19 prevention protocols, we want to assure everyone we are doing our best to keep residents and staff safe."
Greer Village Senior Community CEO Kevin O’Connell released a statement saying, "Despite the highly infectious nature of this disease, our employees were able to protect their residents, themselves, and their families through the initial peak of this pandemic. They did this during a time when we least understood COVID-19 and struggled to find the supplies and funding to persevere as the virus spread. We are tremendously proud of our employees for their dedication to the people we care for."
The nursing home has announced that residents and staff will become eligible for the booster shot when the community has gone two full weeks without any new COVID-19 cases. According to CNN, only 10 of Connecticut’s 209 nursing homes have active COVID cases, with five homes having only a single case of COVID-19.