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OCEAN CITY – With two vaccines possibly working concurrently to combat the pandemic, news about its toll on a particular Ocean City long-term care facility emerged.
Twelve residents of The Shores, on Bay Avenue, in Ocean City, died, in November, as did a nurse employed at the facility, The Press of Atlantic City reported.
The deaths were the first Covid-related fatalities at the facility, according to the report.
A spokesperson with United Methodist Communities, which operates The Shores, told The Press of Atlantic City that the residents’ names could not be revealed because of privacy concerns.
However, a letter to associates said the nurse was Bonnie Ciafre, who was described as “a wife, mother, caregiver, friend and colleague who selflessly cared for the most vulnerable.” She died Nov. 20, at 64, according to her obituary.
According to the New Jersey Department of Health, over 7,000 of the state’s long-term care facility residents succumbed to the disease.
Hope for a less-deadly future continues to come about with vaccine news. Cape Regional Medical Center announced Dec. 17 that it received shipments of the Pfizer-produced vaccine and began inoculating its staff that day.
A U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) panel met Dec. 17 to review a vaccine produced by Moderna, which, after a meeting that day, earned emergency use authorization (EUA) endorsement from the panel.
As of Dec. 18, the FDA is expected to approve the vaccine’s EUA submission, making it the second Covid vaccine in use in 2020.
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