AUSTIN (KXAN) – After testing all residents and staff at Stonebridge Health Rehab, a nursing home in southwest Austin, the facility has confirmed 35 residents and staff contracted the virus, according to a company statement.
Caraday Healthcare, which operates Stonebridge and 12 other Texas facilities, said 24 residents and 11 team members tested positive for coronavirus, according to a statement posted on the company’s website May 12.
“Given the significant extent of the coronavirus (also known as COVID-19) and the particular risk it poses to the elderly and compromised residents of Caraday’s 13 centers in Texas, our leadership team has announced proactive plans to take every precautionary measure to ensure the safety of our residents and staff,” according to Caraday Healthcare’s statement. “We also will expand our role as a credible and reliable source of information for our patients, residents, families, employees, local health agencies, and the broader communities in which we operate because they are already reaching out to us with sometimes conflicting information.”
Positive Stonebridge residents were isolated in the facility, and positive staff members were isolated at home. Stonebridge learned of one resident testing positive on May 8, after being admitted to the hospital with COVID-19 symptoms. Everyone at the location was then tested, according to the company.
Nursing homes hit hard
Elderly people are among the most vulnerable to COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus. More than 3,000 nursing home residents have tested positive for the virus, according to a Texas Department of State Health Services data dashboard created specifically to display information on cases at long-term care facilities.
Following a directive from Gov. Greg Abbott, state officials are in the process of testing of every nursing home resident and staff member statewide for the virus.
Caraday Healthcare also operates Trinity Care Center, a senior facility in Round Rock that reported 50 cases of coronavirus in late April.
Stonebridge is the 18th Central Texas nursing or assisted living facility to confirm to KXAN at least one case of coronavirus among staff or residents. KXAN has independently confirmed cases at the facilities because local and state health officials will not release a comprehensive list of locations with confirmed cases. You can view a map of those facilities below.
The Health and Human Services Commission has released broad numbers of cases and deaths at nursing and assisted living facilities. The following data was updated by HHSC on May 15:
Texas Nursing Homes
- 311 with at least one case
- 25.4% of all sites statewide
- 490 deaths statewide
Texas Assisted Living Facilities
- 112 with at least one case
- 6% of all sites statewide
- 95 deaths statewide
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