REGIONAL- Assisted care facilities in the North Country had been spared outbreaks of COVID-19 in the months since the pandemic began, but that run came to an end this week when a staff member and two residents of the Ely Carefree Living facility tested positive for the virus.
More than 800 assisted care facilities have experienced similar outbreaks in Minnesota, and many have led to multiple deaths among residents.
Merle Sampson is CEO of Spectrum Health Companies, the parent company that operates Carefree Living facilities in Ely, Cook, Orr, Babbitt, and numerous others throughout the state under the Carefree Living and Spectrum Community Health brands. Sampson issued a statement on Monday detailing the situation in Ely.
“Last Monday a staff member presented with symptoms and was tested positive for COVID and is on self-quarantine,” Sampson said. “We tested all 45 residents. One resident tested positive for COVID, (and) remains at CFL and we continue to monitor. A second resident tested positive today.”
Sampson said the Minnesota Department of Health has been informed of the cases and that the company has implemented strict staffing and resident care protocols to “keep everyone safe.”
Sampson noted that while the state has recorded almost 75,000 COVID-19 cases since the first two reported on March 2, the Ely cases are the first among the company’s 13 assisted living facilities.
“As we have for the last six months, we will continue to do all we can to keep everyone safe,” Sampson said.
The mortality rate from COVID-19 in long- term care and assisted living facilities has been of concern for health officials. Of the 1,823 deaths attributed to COVID-19 in the state as of Tuesday, 1,340, or 74 percent, have been connected to these settings.
State health officials first revealed the extent of the pandemic’s effects on long-term care facilities in early June, after state Sen. Karin Housley, R-St. Marys Point, threatened to subpoena MDH for the information. At that time, 863 long-term care facilities had reported at least one case of COVID-19.
While the mortality rate in congregate care facilities had been high early on in the pandemic, that rate has dropped dramatically since hitting a high of 21.57 deaths per day between May 17 and May 23. According to a July 28 update from MDH, the average deaths per day in the first full week of July had fallen to 2.6.
Bois Forte cases rise
As of Tuesday, Aug. 25, six cases of COVID-19 had been identified on the Bois Forte Reservation at Nett Lake and Vermilion. That number more than doubled across the ensuing six days.
Bois Forte community health nurse Teri Morrison provided daily updates on the tribal website and Facebook page that revealed:
• Three cases on Aug. 26 involving a teen and two people in their forties, all at Nett Lake.
• Three new cases on Aug. 27 involving two teens and one person in their twenties, with one at Nett Lake and two at Vermilion.
• One new case on Aug. 28, a person in their sixties at Nett Lake.
• No new cases on Aug. 29 or Aug. 30.
• One new case on Aug. 31, a person in their thirties at Nett Lake.
With the earliest cases starting to drop off of the active case list, as of this Tuesday there were eight active cases at Nett Lake and three at Vermilion.
“Rest assured that Bois Forte Health is doing everything in its power to keep the Reservation community safe while also providing support for those who have tested positive for COVID 19,” Morrison said in Tuesday’s update. “Bois Forte Health will maintain regular contact with the isolated individuals and will monitor their compliance with isolation instructions. Bois Forte Health is engaged in contact tracing and will follow up with those suspected of having recent contact with the individuals who tested positive.”
Bois Forte Health Services is collaborating with MDH to offer free COVID-19 testing from noon to 6 p.m on Thursday, Sept. 3, with testing sites at Nett Lake and Vermilion, and while the events were planned to provide access to testing for Bois Forte members and employees, Morrison said the tests are open to anyone from nearby communities. Online reservations are encouraged by going to https://www.primarybio.com/r/boisforte.
Feds express concerns
Dr. Deborah Birx, a leading health expert on the White House coronavirus task force, was in St. Paul on Sunday to meet with state officials to express concerns about the current COVID situation in Minnesota. MDH Commissioner Jan Malcom reported on those talks during a conference call on Monday.
“In her meetings with us yesterday, she repeatedly mentioned her concerns and the federal task force’s concerns about the continued high rate of community transmission we’re seeing in Minnesota and the continued high rate of cases we’ve been seeing now since early July,” Malcom said. “We have not improved, and that was Dr. Birx’s big concern and big message to us, that the greater metropolitan area here in Minnesota stands out to the federal government as one of the few urban areas that has not seen cases decrease for a concerning number of weeks.”
Malcom expressed concern that Minnesota’s success in battling the pandemic has declined relative to other states.
“Our rate of new cases per 100,000 population has been lower than the national average. As of today, it’s higher than the national average, and that’s a big change,” Malcom said.
Malcom and MDH Infectious Disease Director Kris Ehresmann both emphasized that daily case numbers have plateaued at a high level, and that community spread is driving the numbers in both urban and rural areas of the state.
“This is not just an urban issue,” Malcom said. “The rate of disease growth has absolutely affected rural communities.”
The cause, Malcom said, is a lack of attention to the basic precautions of social distancing, mask wearing, and avoiding large group events.
“People are having house parties, they’re holding weddings and funerals without all the safeguards that they need to be mindful of. They’re not staying at home when they’re sick, or they’re not waiting at home after they’ve been tested to find out their test results,” Malcom said.
Ehresmann noted that COVID outbreaks in August were connected to nine weddings, two funerals, and 13 social gatherings and parties.
The initial cases reported by Bois Forte were linked to a large party where health protocols were not observed.
The upcoming Labor Day holiday weekend poses a real threat to ignite another spike in COVID cases, Malcom said.
“We cannot afford to have this Labor Day weekend further accelerate our community spread, because if that happens what comes next is going to be worse,” she warned. “If we don’t take these risks that we collectively face more seriously, and take the precautions very seriously, we could easily see ourselves beginning to mirror the situations we saw in states like Florida and Arizona several weeks ago.”