CEDAR RAPIDS — A second long-term care facility in Linn County has recovered from an outbreak of the coronavirus.
Cottage Grove Place, a senior living center in southeast Cedar Rapids, has not seen any new cases of the novel coronavirus for 28 days, or two consecutive incubation periods, officials with Linn County Public Health announced Monday.
“We are pleased to announce that Cottage Grove Place is coronavirus-free and greatly appreciate all the hard work our staff has done to make the residents and staff safe,” Executive Director Mark Bailey said.
The facility, which reported the outbreak in mid-April, had six positive cases among residents and staff. Four people recovered, and two residents died after testing positive.
Linn County Public Health “worked diligently” with the long-term care facility to stop the spread, according to a news release.
In an interview with The Gazette, Bailey said officials “took aggressive steps to get ahead” of the coronavirus outbreak within the facility. They created an isolation wing within the skilled nursing ward, where any patients experiencing out-of-the-ordinary symptoms were placed for 14 days.
Officials also implemented twice-daily screening of residents and staff.
Heritage Specialty Care, another long-term care facility, recovered from the outbreak in late May.
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Older adults and those with underlying health conditions are at risk for severe complications due to an infection, and public health officials have found the novel coronavirus spreads easily in settings where people live close together.
Because of this, county public health officials encourage residents to continue good habits such as washing hands often and wearing a face mask.
“Residents of long-term care facilities are at increased risk of severe illness or death from COVID-19,” said Linn County Public Health Director Pramod Dwivedi. “We remind all of our community members to do their part to prevent the spread of COVID-19 within the community and to high-risk individuals such as those living in long-term care facilities.”
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