Quiet Oaks Health Care Center canceled its Halloween carnival due to a COVID-19 outbreak, with administrator Chris Wrenn citing an abundance of caution.
Quiet Oaks Health Care Center’s decision to cancel its Halloween carnival due to a COVID-19 outbreak disheartened residents and community members, but the concern now is how the facility manages the virus in a post-pandemic world.
The nursing home announced its first COVID-19 outbreak this year in a Facebook post on Oct. 21, just two days before its third annual Halloween carnival. Administrator Chris Wrenn said the facility canceled the event out of an abundance of caution.
“We just don’t need a bunch of people coming in and out,” he said. “We reached out to the community, we stay in constant contact with the families. We’re trying to make sure that we’re keeping them up to date.”
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Healthcare Safety Network reports weekly COVID-19 outbreak data from long-term care facilities across the U.S. Recent data from September shows outbreaks hit a peak this year at nearly 700 cases per 100,000 residents in Georgia.
Quiet Oaks had not experienced a COVID-19 outbreak since last December.
Wrenn said five residents tested positive on Oct. 21. By the next day, 13 more tested positive. As of Tuesday, four more residents tested positive for COVID-19.
But Wrenn said the number of infections are trending downward, and the first residents who tested positive last week are expected to leave isolation on Thursday.
“COVID has actually changed to some degree,” Wrenn said. “Symptoms for COVID now are typically very mild, and even in some instances, some of our residents have been asymptomatic. That’s kind of the caution for everybody. It is still extremely, extremely contagious.”
Plan for outbreaks
The CDC’s infection control guidance recommends long-term care facilities have an infection prevention and control program in place to respond to COVID-19 outbreaks. Part of these guidelines include remaining current on COVID-19 vaccine doses, implementing universal personal protective equipment (PPE) and performing regular viral testing.
Wrenn said Quiet Oaks has exceeded these recommendations.
“When COVID was in the building the first time, everybody wore the N95 respirators, you had to do cohorting and all that other stuff,” he said. “We have continued to do things the way that we used to.”
As part of Quiet Oaks’ emergency preparedness plan, the facility conducts a hazard vulnerability assessment to evaluate the risk of potential infections. Since the onset of COVID-19, the facility has preserved its inventory of PPE, face masks and testing kits.
Wrenn said the facility intends to get the updated COVID-19 vaccine for its residents, but due to FDA restrictions and the government shutdown, those plans have stalled.
“The COVID vaccine is also kind of regulated by the CDC, and being they are a federal entity and we’re in the middle of a government shutdown, that stuff is not readily available,” Wrenn said. “So, it’s kind of like we’re back to the beginning with it again.”
Residents who test positive for COVID-19 are quarantined in their rooms for 10 days. For the rest of the building, residents are encouraged to practice social distancing and frequent handwashing.
‘Sense of normalcy’
While community activities like bingo and Bible study are still held for residents who do not have COVID-19, staff has been bringing coloring pages to residents quarantining in their rooms.
“When you’re in quarantine, the biggest thing to try to do is to try to maintain a sense of normalcy,” Wrenn said. “All the care is still provided for them as it typically is, it’s just that the people that are coming and providing for you actually have on full PPE.”
Quiet Oaks will continue testing for COVID-19 until 14 days pass with no new positive results. In the meantime, Wrenn asks the community to be mindful of what the facility is going through.
“Just a prayerful consideration for the residents and the staff is the biggest thing,” Wrenn said. “The facility is going to do everything within its power to ensure that the residents, the families and the staff of this facility are going to be cared for.”