The acute rehabilitation unit at Mt. Ascutney Hospital and Health Center in Windsor, Vt., has a cluster of patients and staff who have tested positive for COVID-19.
The cluster in the 10-bed unit includes three patients and four staff members, Otelah Perry, Mt. Ascutney’s director of quality, patient safety and compliance, said via email on Tuesday. The cluster was previously announced by Mt. Ascutney CEO Joseph Perras in an update recorded on Friday and posted to the website of Windsor On-Air.
The first asymptomatic patient tested positive on Dec. 2. In addition to the seven people connected to the rehab unit, two other hospital employees tested positive last week.
The hospital has found no additional positive cases since Friday, but testing will continue in accordance with recommendations from the Vermont Department of Health, Perry said.
As of Tuesday afternoon, there were 14 patients with COVID-19 in hospitals in the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health system, including four at Mt. Ascutney, Perry said. In addition to Mt. Ascutney, the system includes Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, Alice Peck Day Memorial Hospital in Lebanon, New London Hospital, Cheshire Medical Center in Keene, and the Visiting Nurse and Hospice for Vermont and New Hampshire.
Outbreak at
Hanover Terrace grows
Nearly 90% of the residents at Hanover Terrace had tested positive for COVID-19 as of Tuesday, according to the facility’s temporary administrator.
Thirteen more residents at the Lyme Road nursing home received their positive results on Tuesday, bringing the total number of infected residents to 66, Martha Ilsley, the Lyme Road nursing home’s temporary administrator, said via email.
In addition to the residents, 22 workers and two contract workers from an outside vendor had previously tested positive, bringing the outbreak at the Lyme Road nursing home to 90 total infections.
Results from staff testing conducted Monday were not available as of Tuesday afternoon, Ilsley said.
The residents have varying degrees of severity of illness, she said. Two residents, who have chosen to focus entirely on comfort care, are “quite ill,” she said, but several others have improved with treatment.
There were 73 residents at Hanover Terrace as of Tuesday. One resident was discharged Monday, Ilsley said.
DHMC child care closed due to COVID-19
The closing of the child care center at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center due to cases of COVID-19 has affected about 50 D-H employees, according to a D-H spokeswoman.
Bright Horizons, the Massachusetts-based company that runs the center on the DHMC campus in Lebanon, said in an emailed statement that it closed the center in accordance with guidance provided by the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services and “as we work through confirmed cases of COVID-19.”
Bright Horizons did not respond to follow-up questions about how many cases the center has had or when it closed. It did say it’s slated to reopen Dec. 14.
