Samaritan Long-Term Care Resident Tests Positive for COVID-19

Published on: December 4, 2020

On Friday, December 4, Samaritan Health received notice a resident at Samaritan Keep Home long-term care facility tested positive for COVID-19. This is the first time a resident of either of Samaritan Health’s two long-term care facilities has tested positive for the virus.

It has been determined the resident contracted the virus from a home visit over the Thanksgiving holiday. The resident has been in isolation since they returned to the facility, as per New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) protocol for home visits. The resident initially received a negative test result once they returned to Samaritan Keep Home, but their second test this week came back positive.

Samaritan Keep Home staff are now going one step further and creating a COVID-unit with established procedures, separating this resident even more from the rest of the population. At this point the resident does not require hospitalization.

All staff have been in full Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) as if the resident were COVID-19 positive since they returned from their home visit. Staff and residents continue to be tested weekly, per NYSDOH guidelines.

Our staff are fully trained and prepared to respond to a scenario like this. We’re confident the precautionary measures our staff has been taking – such as isolating the resident, masking, eye protection, sanitizing and regular temperature checks – have helped minimize exposure.

Samaritan Health places the health and safety of our residents and staff above all else and will continue diligent efforts to prevent the spread of this virus in our facilities, following all NYSDOH directives for testing and contact tracing.