Nursing homes and other senior care centers in Colorado are being ravaged by the latest surge of coronavirus, a chilling repeat of the spring when thousands of residents were infected with the disease and hundreds died.
Through Wednesday, nearly 200 active, ongoing outbreaks at such facilities in recent weeks had led to at least 3,300 infections and more than 300 deaths, according to a Colorado Sun analysis of Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment data. Thousands of staff members are catching the disease, too, and as many as three have died as a result of active outbreaks that have begun over the past three months.
The situation is similar to what unfolded in Colorado in March, April and May, when COVID-19 first spread, mostly unchecked, for weeks through senior care centers as health officials struggled to understand the disease and how it is transmitted. Once again, coronavirus is not being stopped by regulations enacted by Gov. Jared Polis and his public health team in an effort to protect vulnerable people living in long-term care facilities, including testing regimens for staff and residents and limited visitation.
“They are helpful,” Doug Farmer, CEO of the Colorado Health Care Association and Center for Assisted Living, said of the protective policies put in place. “But none of those things alone — or even together — are a guarantee you can keep it all the way out.”
Since coronavirus reached Colorado early this year, nearly 1,400 residents of nursing homes and senior care centers have died from COVID-19. They represent about half of all the people in the state who have died after contracting the disease, the Sun’s analysis of CDPHE data shows. More than 7,000 residents have been infected.
Additionally, more than 5,700 nursing home workers have caught COVID-19 since the pandemic reached Colorado, and as many as 10 have died.
In Montezuma County, 12 residents and four staff at Vista Mesa Assisted Living in Cortez have tested positive. The facility is managed by Continuum Health Management LLC, based in Greeley.
According to its website, Continuum Health Management manages four assisted living facilities in Colorado, including Vista Mesa in Cortez, Grace Pointe in Greeley, Sharmar Village Care Center in Pueblo and Spring Ridge Park in Wheat Ridge.
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