Covid cases rise in Concordia at Cabot

The number of covid-19 infections has risen significantly at Concordia at Cabot, a nursing and personal care facility in Butler County.

As of Monday, 25 nursing home residents and 16 skilled nursing employees have tested positive for the virus at Cabot. On the same campus, 55 residents in Lund personal care and 19 residents in Oertel personal care have tested positive – along with 18 employees in Lund and three in Oertel. In total, the Concordia at Cabot campus now has 136 infections.

Frank Skrip, director of public relations for Concordia Lutheran Ministries, said the campus has 142 skilled nursing beds and 280 personal care beds, and that 85-90% of all beds are occupied. Concordia at Cabot is part of Concordia Lutheran Ministries, a large regional chain.

The facility has notified affected families and is doing contact tracing, according to a message on Concordia’s website.

The message says facility staff are doing temperature checks multiple times per day, monitoring all residents for symptoms and screening staff members at the beginning and end of each shift. The campus has several sanitizing measures in place, including an ultraviolet system in the ductwork and disinfectant fogging machines.

Skrip said the facility is made up of mostly private rooms, making it easier to isolate covid-positive individuals. He said the facility has an adequate supply of personal protective equipment and does not anticipate needing assistance from the National Guard, as many nursing homes have during the pandemic.

He said despite the large number of employees testing positive, staffing levels have remained “satisfactory.”

“Like all providers, especially during the pandemic and now cold/flu season, call-offs do create a challenge, but our staffing numbers have always stayed above the required levels,” he said.

Maintaining staff has been a recurring challenge for long-term care facilities during the pandemic — a Tribune-Review investigation and data analysis found that facilities statewide are relying increasingly on outside sources, as covid outbreaks lead to an increased workload and staff members getting sick.

The outbreak first began at the facility in late November or early December. At that time, only 10 residents and eight employees in Lund personal care, along with three skilled nursing employees, had tested positive.