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The number of deaths due to COVID-19 that have occurred in Montgomery County’s senior residential facilities account for 60 percent of all the COVID-19 deaths and about one-quarter of all the cases here.
As of Wednesday morning, Montgomery County’s nursing homes, assisted living facilities and group homes with more than 10 occupants accounted for 1,043 cases and 129 deaths. These totals include both residents and staff members.
The total countywide COVID-19 numbers include 4,152 cases and 218 deaths, according to the Department of Health.
In senior residential facilities statewide, there are 4,369 cases and 471 confirmed deaths.
The two homes with the greatest number of residents and staff testing positive for COVID-19 in Montgomery County are Regency Health of Silver Spring and Manor Care Silver Spring.
There have been 80 cases and 10 deaths at Regency Health and 79 cases and 15 deaths at Manor Care, according to the Maryland Department of Health.
Any facility with 30 or more cases is considered a “hot spot,” explained County Health Officer Dr. Travis Gayles.
According to that definition, there are 13 hot spots in the county.
“The majority of our facilities had cases early in the process,” Gayles said.
The numbers of cases are not happening nearly as often as they had about a month ago, when county and state officials were not aware that asymptomatic people could still spread the disease, he said.
As of about a month ago, state’s Disease Control employees have been coordinating work at area nursing homes, and the county’s local action team has been checking and assisting employees to make sure the homes are following the state’s guidance.
It is mandatory that everyone in these facilities wear face coverings and those working directly with residents wear protective gear, Gayles said.
The new guidelines also dictate when someone needs to be quarantined and that all group activities cease, Gayles said.
He said it wasn’t surprising that many of the county’s cases are in senior facilities.
“You’ve got a highly vulnerable population,” he said, adding, “You’ve got a lot of folks in a concentrated space.”
Also, he noted, people living in these facilities are elderly and often have “complicated medical records.”
Prior to the novel coronavirus outbreak, it was common for nursing home staff to work at more than one facility. The action team is trying to “minimize that as much as possible” while still having enough staff at each homes, Gayles said.
The goal is to have individual employees assigned to a dedicated facility to reduce the number of people coming into each facility, he noted.
He noted that the county’s action teams are keeping in touch with the homes but not necessarily going into them.
“They all get some level of support.”
There have been visits to nine homes in the county to date, Gayles said.
The state DOH lists the number of cases and deaths at these homes on its website.
