The National Guard has confirmed that Mountain View Community, the county nursing home in Ossipee, has had its first confirmed cases of COVID-19, affecting both residents and staff.
Mountain View is a 103-bed facility serving 19 communities, including Conway and Wolfeboro.
The cases were initially found during “surveillance testing” conducted Tuesday on 10 percent of residents and 100 percent of staff. Those tests were administered by staff and then sent to Dartmouth Hitchcock. Then on Friday, the National Guard came back and confirmed there were four staff members and one resident who are positive.
Nursing Home Administrator Howie Chandler said three of the staff members and the resident are asymptotic and the fourth staff member who fell ill is “much improved” and the symptoms are “down to a cough.”
Chandler publishes updates and information about what’s happening with COVID-19 testing to the Mountain View Community Facebook page.
“Unlike our routine weekly tests (Anterior nares) which barely are inserted into your nostril — the NG test feels like it goes deep enough to tickle your tonsils, said Chandler. “It is difficult for us as staff and it can seem impossible for many of our residents.”
Nursing home units are named after local mountains. They are Chocorua, Whittier, Green and Shaw.
Chocorua and Whittier now have extra precautions; in those units, residents must stay in their rooms and meals are delivered to them.
In the other units, residents can leave their rooms if they are able to wear masks.
The resident who lives in Chocorua and one staff member who tested positive and worked in Chocorua also had contact with the Whittier unit. Chandler doesn’t believe any Whittier residents are infected.
The National Guard will be back Friday to test all the staff and residents. “We are very optimistic about this being contained,” said Chandler adding perhaps residents and staff should wear red, white and blue Friday to show support for the guard.”
There have been false positives at Mountain View in the past. In June, two residents were reported to be positive for COVID-19, but a retest by the National Guard showed the results to be false positives.
Those false positives were from work done by Mako Medical Labs of North Carolina and the retest samples by a state lab in Concord. At the time, Chandler told Delegation members that the State DHHS had contracted with Mako to do lab work for nursing homes.
In early July, Chandler, who appeared in a delegation meeting by video, said that he had been in contact with Mako and New Hampshire’s commissioner of health and human services, Lori Shibinette, who Chandler said was “looking into it personally.
However, Dartmouth-Hitchcock started doing the lab work about three weeks ago.
“We weren’t the only people having trouble with Mako,” said Chandler, adding that Mako was apparently “swamped” when outbreaks started occurring down south in places like Texas.
“What went on behind the scenes with the state we were never told but were told (recently) ‘starting next week Dartmouth-Hitchcock will be doing your surveillance testing.’”
Chandler is scheduled to meet with Carroll County Commissioners Wednesday at 9:15 a.m. for a department head update. Commissioners meet at the administration building located at 95 Water Village Road.
Chandler said the commissioners are already briefed daily about COVID-19.
“It’s just heartbreaking,” said Chairwoman Amanda Bevard (R-Wolfeboro), adding that staff worked hard to keep the residents safe and she doesn’t think anything more could have been done. “I thought we were going to dodge the bullet by being so proactive, but I guess it was a matter of time,” she said.
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