One resident of a Greenwood nursing home has died after contracting COVID-19, and another is currently hospitalized with the respiratory illness.
Two employees at Crystal Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center also have tested positive for the new coronavirus and are at home recovering, the company said.
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“Obviously this is a tragic time for our country and the world,” Joe Gimenez, a spokesman for Nexion Health, the company that owns Crystal Rehab, said in an email Monday. “We wish to express our most heartfelt condolences to all those who have lost loved ones. We also cannot adequately express our admiration for those on the front lines of care.”
Gimenez did not provide the date of the resident’s death. It was not immediately certain whether it is one of the four COVID-19 deaths of Leflore County residents already reported by the Mississippi State Department of Health or a fifth one.
Crystal Rehab is the second long-term care facility in Greenwood to have at least one case of COVID-19. There are 58 nursing homes statewide experiencing outbreaks, according to the Department of Health’s latest count.
Long-term care facilities are considered high-risk locations because their residents are elderly or in poor health.
For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough, that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and death. Of the 98 deaths attributed so far to COVID-19 in Mississippi, 87% have involved people who are at least 60 years of age.
The first nursing home in Greenwood to experience an outbreak was Golden Age Inc. It confirmed on April 4 that one of its residents had tested positive for COVID-19. That resident remains in isolation and still, as of Monday, has not experienced any symptoms of the illness, the nursing home said. No other residents or staff at Golden Age have tested positive for the respiratory disease, it said.
In the case of Crystal Rehab, Gimenez said the facility “is collaborating closely with the local health department in order to protect our residents.
“Our staff is minimizing social contact, implementing social distancing, ending communal dining and group activities and promoting handwashing. The staff will continue their tireless work within the Center on behalf of the residents, even in the face of this pandemic.”
Gimenez said that the nursing home is carefully monitoring residents who are showing even the mildest possible symptoms. The facility remains closed to visitors, including family members. He said that the residents’ families are being contacted to explain the situation and provide options for communicating with their relatives who are living at Crystal Rehab.
Meanwhile, it was announced that Mississippi Valley State University will host on Wednesday a one-day drive-through site to test those who are showing symptoms of COVID-19.
The sample collection will be held at Rice-Totten Football Stadium on the school’s Itta Bena campus. Testing is by appointment only.
The University of Mississippi Medical Center and the state Department of Health have been holding the one-day, drive-through testing sites around the state as one of the strategies to deal with the outbreak of COVID-19. Also assisting with the drive-through testing are the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency and the Mississippi National Guard.
As of Monday’s latest update, Mississippi has had 2,942 cases of the coronavirus and 98 deaths. Leflore County accounts for 48 of the cases and Carroll County eight.
The drive-through testing is free of charge.
Anyone experiencing symptoms related to COVID-19 — fever, cough, shortness of breath or sore throat — who feels they should be tested must first go through a free screening by a UMMC clinician through a smartphone app, the C Spire Health UMMC Virtual COVID-19 Triage app. Those without a smartphone can call 601-496-7200.
Those identified during the screening as high risk for having the coronavirus will receive an appointment to be tested Wednesday. They will give a specimen sample, via a nose swab, without exiting their vehicle. UMMC will later notify those tested of the results.
State health officials ask that only those showing symptoms use the C Spire Health app or call.
This is the second time a one-day collection site has held in Leflore County. On March 31, 49 people were tested at the Leflore County Civic Center.
In addition to Itta Bena, mobile testing will held this week on Tuesday in Houston and Fayette; Thursday in Lexington and Woodville.
• Contact Tim Kalich at 581-7243 or tkalich@gwcommonwealth.com.
