Two residents of the Tallahatchie General Hospital Extended Care Facility have been hospitalized after testing positive for COVID-19.
Both in their mid- to late-70s, TGH Chief Operating Officer Buddy McRae said Friday evening that one of the residents is in "serious" condition at TGH, while the other has been transferred to Baptist Memorial Hospital-North Mississippi in Oxford. No condition was given.
McRae said three certified nursing assistants who worked in the Charleston nursing home's A-Wing — that area houses ECF residents diagnosed with dementia or requiring other specialized care — were the first to test positive for the virus.
On May 29, the Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH) conducted tests of all ECF staff and residents as part of mandatory statewide testing of all long-term care (LTC) facilities. After results came back, it was announced on the hospital's Facebook page that three employees had been confirmed for the virus, but that no residents had tested positive at that time.
"Two [of the CNAs] were asymptomatic, and so they were sent home to quarantine for 14 days," noted McRae. "They remained asymptomatic for 14 days, and so, under Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, they couldn't transmit the virus any more and were allowed to return to work. The third was briefly hospitalized, but has since been discharged and cleared to return to work."
McRae said the two residents who became ill and subsequently tested positive for COVID-19 were staying in rooms in one section of one hall of the A-Wing where the CNAs worked.
Some 14 ECF residents were retested, McRae explained, including all others living on the affected wing as well as some who lived in rooms elsewhere that were serviced by the three positive CNAs.
"The results all came back negative, which is a testament to our infection control protocols," noted McRae.
Chief Operating Officer Jim Blackwood, who said McRae has been "integral to all our COVID policies," sounded a note of optimism, adding, "We are hopeful this is contained."
MSDH has said LTC facilities like nursing homes and assisted living centers are considered "high-risk locations" because their residents are older or in poor health.
At one point in early June, MSDH reported that 136 LTC facilities around the state had outbreaks of COVID-19, meaning that the facilities had one or more cases of the virus among staff or residents.
A Friday report by MSDH, reflecting statistics as of 6 p.m. Thursday, June 18, showed that there were ongoing outbreaks among 71 LTC facilities involving 637 staff members and 1,030 residents, and that there had been 150 deaths among residents in those facilities.
