FARMINGTON — Eight people have tested positive for COVID-19 at the Sandy River Center, a nursing home and physical rehab center on Route 133.
The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention announced the outbreak during its regular news briefing Monday. The outbreak comes as Maine struggles with increasing cases and single-day totals that have been the highest since the pandemic began.
Maine saw 84 new COVID-19 cases Monday, as well as the death of a woman in her 80s from Androscoggin County. The Sandy River Center cases are not included in that latest count, but they are expected to be included in case numbers released Tuesday.
Sandy River is owned by Genesis Healthcare, the Pennsylvania for-profit company. According to Genesis Chief Medical Officer Richard Feifer, the outbreak includes seven assisted living residents and one staff member. The facility has about 80 residents and staff members.
Feifer said all patients and residents have been tested twice and staff members will be tested a second time Tuesday.
“During this pandemic, we have been stringent with restrictions and a whole host of other precautions,” he said Monday in an email. “As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services began providing protocols and guidelines for the coronavirus, we have diligently followed them and in many cases, have gotten out in front of public health guidelines, adopting even more stringent infection precautions than were recommended at the time. We also continue to follow the direction of the Maine Department of Health in an effort to contain and minimize the spread of the virus.”
He said the facility has taken several steps, including screening residents and patients for symptoms three times a day, screening and taking temperatures of all staff when they enter the building, requiring all staff to wear personal protective equipment and canceling all outside medical appointments that aren’t medically necessary, time sensitive or needed to provide a life-saving treatment.
Genesis also owns Marshwood Center in Lewiston. That nursing home had an outbreak this summer with 48 cases, including 31 residents and 17 staff members.
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