State: One COVID-19-related death, new outbreaks at Guilford County nursing homes

Sep. 30—GREENSBORO — A death linked to COVID-19 and two new outbreaks of the respiratory disease are included in a new report issued Tuesday by state health officials.

The death involved a resident at Accordius Health at Greensboro, according to the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services. That outbreak involves three cases among staff and seven with residents.

Officials with Accordius did not return emails and a phone call seeking comment.

COVID-19 outbreaks also were newly reported at Guilford Health Care Center and the Meridian Center in High Point.

Guilford Health had 12 cases among residents. Meridian Center had five cases — four among staff and one involving residents — according to the state report.

Officials at Guilford Health did not return a phone call seeking comment.

Lori Mayer, a spokesperson for Meridian, said in an email: "The information reported by the county Department of Health appears to report cases going back to the beginning of July 2021. At this time, Meridian Center does not have any active cases of COVID-19. The last staff case was more than two weeks ago and the last resident case was approximately one month ago.

"The center has since tested all staff and residents and no additional cases have been identified."

Kenya Smith Godette, a spokeswoman for the Guilford County Health Department, said in an email that "facilities do not exit 'outbreak status' until 28 days after the last positive case."

Mayer said all Meridian staff is vaccinated for COVID-19, with the exception of one person with a medical or religious exemption.

Additional coronavirus cases were included in Tuesday's report at three other facilities where outbreaks had been previously reported.

Camden Health and Rehabilitation had five new cases among staff, for a total of nine, and two previously reported cases involving residents.

Carolina Pines at Greensboro had three new cases among staff, for a total of five, and a new case involving a resident.

Neither facility responded to requests for comment.

Countryside Village in Stokesdale had five new cases each among staff and residents, for a total of six cases each among staff and residents.

"Countryside is on Day 15 of no new positives," administrator Brittany White said in an email. "We are ensuring we continue to follow all infection control guidance from the local health department as well as other sources.

"Countryside has worked extremely hard to prevent any further spread of COVID-19."

Numbers for Brighton Gardens of Greensboro did not change since the previous report, but its data changed. One less resident was determined to have tested positive for the coronavirus since last week's report, but one staff member was determined to have the disease. That means one resident and one staff member tested positive for the disease, according to Tuesday's report.

Data in the state reports is considered preliminary and may change as more information is available, according to state health officials. The cases reflected in the reports are not necessarily still active.

Under state guidelines, a COVID-19 outbreak in a congregate-living setting is defined as two or more laboratory-confirmed cases. An outbreak is considered over if there is no evidence of continued transmission within the previous 28 days.

Contact Kenwyn Caranna at 336-373-7082 and follow @kcaranna on Twitter.

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