OC Facility Staff Return to Work After Contracting Coronavirus, 2 New Cases

ED. NOTE: The below replaces an earlier version.
OCEAN CITY – Another long-term care facility in Cape May County appeared on the state Department of Health’s COVID-19 dashboard this past week, and as of May 4, four staff and one resident have tested positive for the virus.
According to Jessica Stewart, executive director at The Shores at Wesley Manor, three staff who tested positive earlier had “no hands-on” care with residents. Through contact tracing, they were able to trace how the three were infected.
The fourth staff member, who tested positive over the May 1-3 weekend, was a caregiver, she said.
“As this point, I am assuming everyone is positive so we are testing everyone,” she said.
As of May 4, two staff members had returned to work and a third is scheduled to return May 11. The resident tested positive over the May 1-3 weekend.
Stewart said the facility, which has 60 beds, was “pro-active before the state said we had to close our doors.
“We started taking protective actions about two weeks prior to the state ordering us to close our doors,” Stewart said. “We started wearing masks to protect our residents, stopped visitors and vendors and took every precaution we could.”
The first case occurred there about April 3, she noted, expressing frustration with the state’s and county’s dashboard used to track numbers of COVID-19 cases.
“It’s not up-to-date. Some numbers are confirmed cases, others are suspected. It doesn’t delineate between staff and residents, so families are calling asking if it is their family member,” she said. “You can imagine how hard it is worrying about your family member contracting the virus and not being able to see them.”
The facility, on Bay Ave., offers assisted living, hospice and an Alzheimer’s Memory Care unit. Twenty-one beds are part of the sub-acute care section, but only 12 beds are in use now because of changes made to prevent the spread of the virus, according to Stewart. (Subacute care is defined as comprehensive in-patient care designed for some one who has an acute illness, injury or exacerbation of a disease process.)
“Before a resident can re-enter long-term care, we are isolating them for 14 days to make sure they haven’t been exposed to the virus,” Stewart said. “We are putting one person in a room so we can protect their roommate when they re-enter care. That essentially is cutting in-half the number we are able to serve because of the isolation.”
The hospice unit is full, and Stewart said a few beds were open in the assisted living and memory care units.
To contact Karen Knight, email kknight@cmcherald.com.