HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — The coronavirus outbreak has killed 10 or more residents in eight nursing homes across Connecticut, according to state figures released on Thursday.
Nursing home residents account for 375 of the 971 people in Connecticut to die from the virus, which has spread quickly through nursing homes around the country.
Two Connecticut nursing homes have had 15 deaths — the Gardner Heights Health Care Center in Shelton and the Abbott Terrace Health Center in Waterbury, according to state officials.
Athena, however, which owns Abbott Terrace, said Thursday night in a written statement that its internal count of deaths is six.
The state’s tally appears to include residents who were already receiving hospice services prior to contracting COVID-19, the company said.
“We are not confident that the numbers in the report are an accurate depiction of our centers,” the company said. “Several of our centers have accepted COVID-19 positive residents from area assisted livings and other nursing homes who were unable to be cared for in those settings.”
Phone and email messages seeking comment Thursday night from a representative of Gardner Heights were not immediately returned.
Town |
Nursing Home |
Licensed beds |
Residents with COVID-19 |
COVID-19 associated deaths among residents |
Bethel |
Bethel Health Care Center |
161 |
18 |
2 |
Danbury
|
Glen Hill Center
|
100
|
2
|
1
|
Danbury
|
Saint John Paul II Center
|
141
|
23
|
9
|
Danbury
|
Western Rehabilitation Care Center
|
120
|
13
|
7
|
New Milford |
Village Crest Center for Health & Rehabilitation |
95 |
4 |
- |
Ridgefield |
Laurel Ridge Health care Center |
126 |
12 |
1 |
Wilton |
Wilton Meadows Health Care Center |
148 |
6 |
4 |
Josh Geballe, the chief operating officer for Gov. Ned Lamont, said at a news conference Thursday that the deaths represent about 2% of the beds inside state nursing homes that have reported infections.
“So I think it’s a real testament to our nursing homes, to the nurses and the staff there and the work they’ve been doing to put in place the right infection control procedures,” Geballe said. “We know that this is a highly at-risk population. We’ve seen that across the nation, across the world, and the teams are doing great work within the nursing homes to really protect the residents.”
Nursing home residents account for 1,713 confirmed cases of the virus in the state, out of a statewide total of 15,884, according to the state’s numbers.