CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The Nueces County Health Department continues to monitor several nursing homes after it was confirmed Monday that an employee who works at those facilities tested positive for COVID-19.
Director of Public Health Annette Rodriguez said Wednesday that so far there are no cases of the employee infecting any residents or staff members.
The health department is preparing to stop monitoring the nursing homes.
“April the twenty-fourth was the last time the (infected employee) had come in contact with a resident," Rodriguez said. "So if you look at two weeks from that time, that would be this Friday. So this Friday would be the last day that we would actually be monitoring to determine whether anyone became positive in the facility.”
Rodriguez will not name the nursing homes where the contract employee worked.
San Rafael Nursing and Rehabilitation Center put a statement on its website Wednesday. It read in part, "We can confirm that we have one employee of a contracted service provider to the Facility (sic) that has tested positive for Covid-19."
Click here to read the full statement.
A second nursing home, Brookdale Trinity Towers, sent an email home to patients' families that KRIS 6 News was able to obtain. "On May fourth, 2020, we received confirmation that an associate from the skilled nursing building at Brookdale Trinity Towers has tested positive for COVID-19," the email read in part.
The email also said that the infected-employee last worked on Saturday. It's unclear if he or she had any contact with residents.
Health department workers tested nursing home staff members. But instead of them also testing residents, those staff members did the testing. The altered move was designed to keep the residents from coming into contact with more people.
“It is important to remember, this is not business as usual," Rodriguez said. "There will be a lot of changes. But while the threat of COVID-19 still exists, this is our new normal."
