In long-term care facilities, which in August began allowing limited visiting of essential caregivers, most new COVID-19 cases have been found in health care workers rather than residents, Minnesota Department of Health Infectious Disease Director Kris Ehresmann said during a conference call Thursday.
The percentage of deaths due to COVID-19 occurring in long-term care residents has been steadily decreasing, the health department's Director of the Office of Health Facility Complaints Lindsey Kruger said during the call. In May, 84.2% of COVID-19 deaths in the state were in long-term care facilities, compared to 52.1% in August, she said.
Kruger attributed that decrease to successful prevention measures, which have allowed many facilities to open their doors on a limited basis to essential caregivers beginning in August.
To date, there have been no COVID-19 cases in long-term care facilities traced back to those essential caregivers, she said. The largest threat to long-term care facilities is health care workers contracting the disease through unknown community spread, which has become the cause for vast majority of new cases in the state.
Erik Newland is the suburbs reporter for the St. Cloud Times. Reach him at 320-255-8761 or enewland@stcloudtimes.com. Follow him on Twitter @SCTimesErik.
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COVID-19 fatalities in long-term care facilities fall in August - SC Times
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