ELY- Boundary Waters Care Center has been hit with a significant COVID outbreak affecting both patients and staff over the past two weeks.
BWCC Executive Director Adam Masloski confirmed for the Timberjay on Monday that 12 residents and 11 staff members have contracted COVID-19 since the first case was identified on Oct. 27. Only one resident has required hospitalization, consistent with the overall milder COVID symptoms of the multiple Omicron variants that are circulating in Minnesota.
Masloski said the facility is following all Centers for Disease Control and Minnesota Department of Health recommended guidelines to contain the outbreak, the first since 17 patients were diagnosed with COVID over a three-week period last May, according to Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services data. Prior to that, only five cases of COVID among residents had been identified since weekly reporting to CMS began in May 2020.
Affected patients have been quarantined and affected staff have been excluded from the facility, and others have been filling in to cover staff shortages, Masloski said.
“Despite the impact on our staffing levels due to some team members’ positive COVID-19 tests, we continue to serve our residents’ needs and preferences each day,” he said. “Not only are our managers delivering personalized services in the meantime, but we have also leveraged the support of state agency staff. We all are working together to provide any unwell team member with the time and support needed to fully recover and return to BWCC once they meet the state and federal guidelines to return to work.”
BWCC is following the recommended protocols for masking, personal protective equipment, and disinfection, while continuing to allow visitations to continue per CDC guidance.
“We continue to be committed to offering visitation that supports each resident’s physical, mental, and psychosocial well-being, and quality of life,” Masloski said. “Visitation is permitted at all times at BWCC— even in the event of an outbreak. Visitors should know there are transmission risks associated with entering our community if we have any active COVID-19 cases.”
However, precautions are taken to exclude visitors who have had a positive COVID test during the previous ten days, have been exposed to COVID-19, or who have shown signs of respiratory illness.
“Our team at BWCC is always available to support residents and their loved ones in staying connected in alternative ways as necessary, such as by coordinating a virtual visit on their behalf,” Masloski said.
The dominant BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron variants have been shown to be highly effective in evading the body’s immune system, whether strengthened by COVID shots and boosters or through previous COVID infection, and that almost surely contributed to the BWCC outbreak.
Ninety-four percent of residents have been vaccinated against COVID-19 and three-fourths of them have received the most recent bivalent booster shot, Masloski reported. Eighty-nine percent of staff have been vaccinated and 39 percent are fully up-to-date with shots and boosters, he added. Staff members who have religious or health exemptions from getting vaccinated are subject to increased screening, testing, and masking protocols.
Long-term care facilities were the first and hardest hit of any group at the outset of the COVID pandemic in 2020, and while all COVID indicators have dropped sharply since last January’s Omicron peak, those 65 and over continue to bear the brunt of the COVID plateau that began in July. MDH data reveal that compared with those who are ages 50-64, those over 65 are four times more likely to be hospitalized and five times more likely to die from COVID. Current statewide case counts, while increasingly dismissed as a strong measure of COVID activity due to unreported at-home testing, still show case rates per 100,000 running at least twice as high for the 65-plus group compared to younger ones.