KENT COUNTY, Mich. — A national report released Monday suggests nursing homes across the country may see a 3rd spike in COVID cases, while there are at least 21 facilities within Kent County with at least 1 person testing positive for the virus.
The report, which was published by the American Health Care Association and the National Center for Assisted Living, suggests that nursing home facilities across the country could start to see a sort of third wave in positive cases based on the fact that community spread among the general population has risen significantly.
The notion that there is a correlation between nursing home cases and cases within the general population is based on a recent report put out by Johns Hopkin and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
"According to Johns Hopkins, COVID cases in the general U.S. population rose by 62,139 cases per week in late September correlating with an uptick in nursing home cases during the week of September 27," the report said.
FOX 17 spoke to the folks at the Kent County Health Department Monday afternoon to see how things are trending in our neck of the woods.
“At last count, we had about 21 facilities with at least one case in their residence," said Brian Hartl, Epidemiology Supervisor at the Kent County Health Department.
"So obviously, that's cause for concern.”
He says the health department has been in close contact with all of the assisted living facilities across Kent County, ensuring they have resources on hand and ready to deploy if needed.
“We have a group here from the health department who is our congregate living facility team," Hartl said.
"They have regular communications with those facilities, hearing from them, you know, what they need, providing them with guidance."
Hartl says the numbers we are seeing at nursing home facilities here in Kent County are, at least for the moment, manageable.
"But obviously if numbers increase, then we could see some situations change."