TROY — Rensselaer County officials are expressing concern over a rise in coronavirus cases at area nursing home and adult care facilities.
On Monday, county operations director Rich Crist said new cases had been confirmed in the last day at two new facilities in the county: the Eddy Heritage House nursing home in Troy and the Living Resources site for developmentally disabled adults in Schodack.
Living Resources had three residents and two staff members test positive for the novel coronavirus, he said. Heritage House had two staff members test positive for the virus.
“They’re kind of growing a little bit, and that makes us worried,” Crist said, referring to cases in adult-care facilities.
On Sunday, the county reported a new cluster had emerged at the Eddy Memorial Geriatric Center in Troy, with seven residents and two staff members testing positive for the virus. It also said the virus had founds its way into the Rosewood Gardens facility in East Greenbush, where one resident and one staff member had also tested positive.
To date, the largest known outbreak in a county facility has been at the Diamond Hill Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Schaghticoke, which has seen 23 residents and 10 staff members test positive. Eight residents have died.
Other previously reported cases in the county include two resident positives at The Eliot senior living facility in Troy and a staff positive at the county-run Van Rensselaer Manor. Those cases appear to be under control, Crist said.
He said the county is working with private homes to make sure they have proper protective equipment. High demand for gowns prompted the county to borrow some from a neighboring county, he said. The county also just filled an order for more face shields.
The spread of coronavirus in nursing homes and other adult care facilities is a major driver of New York's death toll. Roughly one-quarter of all deaths in the state have occurred among residents of these facilities.
Some of the largest known outbreaks in the Capital Region have occurred at the Albany County-owned Shaker Place nursing home, where 42 residents and 19 staff have tested positive for the virus, and the Pine Haven nursing home in Philmont, a private home in Columbia County where at least 31 residents and 12 staff had tested positive as of last week.
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Bethany Bump writes about all things health, including state and local health policy, addiction and mental health for the Times Union.
She has previously covered education, business and local governments, and won awards for her coverage of health care and addiction issues.
Bump joined the Times Union in 2015, after a four-year stretch at The Daily Gazette in Schenectady, N.Y.She graduated from Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications in 2011, with a bachelor's degree in journalism and political science.
Contact her at (518) 454-5387 or bbump@timesunion.com or on twitter @bethanybump.