Longmont care facilities spared intense COVID-19 outbreaks

Longmont senior care facilities appear to have dodged the scattered and intense COVID-19 outbreaks that have struck nursing homes nationwide, which have been largely blamed on unvaccinated staff members.

Senior care facilities contacted by the Leader say outbreaks have been nonexistent or small in the first few months of 2021. Restrictions from 2020 have now largely been lifted in some cases, including at the assisted living center The Bridge at Longmont 

“We’ve been so blessed and fortunate that we have not had anything,” said Shirley McNeff, executive director. “We take everything just one step at a time.”

If residents are vaccinated, they can have two visitors in their room, McNeff said. The Bridge at Longmont also lifted mask requirements for residents who have been fully vaccinated, she said.

“We were able to see all those beautiful, smiling faces under those masks,” McNeff said.

At Longmont’s Applewood Living Centerone resident and three staff members were infected during a recent outbreak. But there have been no positive cases since April 22, said spokeswoman Annaliese Impink in an email.

At the Hover Senior Living Community there have been no cases of COVID-19 among residents since February 2020, said Holly Raymer, chief executive officer for Hover Senior Living CommunityLiving Community, via email.

Raymer added that the company’s Katherine and Charles Hover Green House nursing homes have had three cases but residents had no symptoms.  

As of last week, there were two COVID outbreaks at long term care facilities in Boulder County  and one of those outbreaks is “closing,” said Boulder County Public Health spokeswoman Angela Simental in an email. 

Neither outbreak is preventing indoor or outdoor visitation, Simental said. “All facilities should be allowing indoor and outdoor visitation at this time,” she said.

Nationally, outbreaks inside nursing homes are now much smaller, less frequent and less severe than during the height of the pandemic. But there continue to be hundreds of deaths attributed to COVID-19, according to the Associated Press. 

The AP cites federal data which says 472 nursing home deaths were related to COVID-19 in the first two weeks of May, down from 10,675 in the first two weeks of January.

“There is this notion among some that vaccines were administered in long-term care, we’re done, and that would be a perilous mistake,” said Dr. David Gifford, chief medical officer of the American Health Care Association, a national nursing home trade association, in a recent statement and quoted by the AP. “Nursing homes and assisted living communities have a constant flow of new residents, whether coming from the hospital or the community and many of them haven’t been vaccinated yet.” 

The CDC also warned that low rates of vaccinations among health care workers in skilled nursing facilities raises risks of outbreak, the AP states.

Resident vaccination rates at the Hover facilities are at least 90% and employee vaccination rate at the nursing home is 95%, Raymer said.

Nationally, Green House nursing homes experienced fewer COVID outbreaks because elderly residents live in a small house where they have consistent staff and more health care professionals on hand than traditional nursing homes, Raymer said. All residents have private rooms with private bathrooms, she added.