Essex County not including nursing home resident recoveries in case count

Aug. 30--Essex County health officials on Saturday said they are monitoring 26 active cases of COVID-19, but that number does not include residents at the Essex Center nursing home.

Essex County Health Department spokeswoman Andrea Whitmarsh said they are not tracking those cases to recovery because the county is focused on trying to limit the spread in the community.

"We're not tracking nursing home residents. They're isolated by design. They're not out in the community and their care is monitored in the nursing home. It's the same with inmates. We don't track someone who is another entity's care," she said.

"We can't issue them an isolation order because they're under the care of another institution," she added.

Whitmarsh said giving a total number would be confusing for residents and the community.

Essex County normally does not issue COVID-19 updates on the weekends, but Whitmarsh sent out a news release on Saturday saying it wanted to make clarify the numbers for the media.

"We want make sure reports about current cases are accurate, to limit panic and ensure decisions about travel, school reopenings, and other activities important to our livelihoods are not further impacted," she wrote.

Whitmarsh added that it would not be accurate to say that residents have recovered just because they are not included in the case count.

The county said that there have been 44 positive COVID-19 cases among residents in the Elizabethtown nursing home since the cluster began. One resident died on Aug. 18 and four more have died since then.

A total of 30 staff members have tested positive along with seven people who had contact with staff. Of those, 10 staff members have recovered as did one of the seven who had contacts with staff.

The county has not had any nursing home cases until this cluster. The nursing home has 86 residents.

The county has had 79 cases since the Essex Center outbreak was identified on Aug. 17. Two of the cases are not linked to that cluster. County health officials believe that there were two cases in June and one in July linked to this cluster as well as one Clinton County resident who died.

Whitmarsh said health officials still do not know how the staff members became infected. They have been wearing mask and other protective gear, but some staff members have become friends outside of work and socialized.

There was a 19-day lag time between when the first infected employee was tested and when the results were received.

"The testing capacity at labs is so stressed right now," she said.

Essex Center is now using a test with a 72-hour turnaround time.

Warren County spokesman Don Lehman said that Warren County Public Health does track nursing home resident recoveries. There have been 117 resident cases in nursing homes since the pandemic began, including 27 fatalities and 90 recoveries.

"Each county has tracked and released data differently throughout this. There aren't really any state directives for counties to release any specific information," he wrote in an email.

On Saturday:

* Warren County reported one new COVID-19 case involving a person who was given a routine coronavirus test before surgery. The illness is mild and the source of infection is under investigation. That brings the total to 298 cases since the pandemic began, according to a news release. Warren County Health Services staff is monitoring eight active infections and all have mild illness that has not required hospitalization. The county has had 34 residents die from COVID-19. Before they contracted the virus, 27 of those people who died living in nursing homes, five in assisted living facilities and two at home.

* Washington County reported no new cases on Saturday. There have been 254 since the pandemic began. A total of 238 people have recovered from the virus.

* Saratoga County does not report updated numbers on the weekend. The county had 868 confirmed cases as of Friday.

* Gov. Andrew Cuomo reported that the number of hospitalizations has dropped to 458, the lowest since March 16. The number of people intubated is down to 48 -- also the lowest since mid-March. Seven people died. A total of 0.67% of COVID-19 tests given on Friday were positive. This is 22 straight days with an infection rate less than 1%.The Capital Region had an infection rate of 0.7%.

Reach Michael Goot at 518-742-3320 or mgoot@poststar.com and follow his blog poststar.com/blogs/michael_goot/.

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