Three people die of COVID-19 at Clover Health Care - The Bethel Citizen

AUBURN — Three people connected to Clover Health Care have died from COVID-19 since Saturday.

Thirty-four residents who tested positive for the disease are being cared for in a special unit, Clover official Sarah O’Sullivan said Tuesday. In addition, 22 staff members, including six registered nurses, are infected.

Clover announced on its Facebook page “with a very heavy heart” that “three families have lost their loved ones to COVID-19 since Saturday. To each family we share their deep grief and sense of injustice.”

All residents who have tested positive are from the nursing home side of the facility. Its memory care area has been converted to care for them.

Clover runs a preschool, nursing home and independent living center and more at its Minot Avenue location. Last spring, during a smaller outbreak, it said that it had 550 residents, staff and contractors to test.

A week ago, Clover reported that seven residents and seven staff members had tested positive during a rolling series of testing aimed at “staying ahead of any infection spread.”

On Saturday, Clover said more positive cases had arisen in the memory care area, which was being turned into a COVID care space since it is the place “most familiar” to many of those who had been infected.

Clover told followers on Facebook earlier, “As you can imagine, keeping residents apart from one another is extremely challenging” when they’re in a memory care area.

In a message to staff and families, Clover said Monday that “these are incredibly difficult times and the support from our families for our staff and for each other is deeply appreciated.”

“If you want to know what a team of superheroes looks like, come to Clover and you’ll see an army of amazing professionals who come with caring hearts and an amazing work ethic, day in and day out,” it said. “To the Clover superheroes, we are eternally grateful for your dedication and tenacity under these COVID-19 challenges.”

O’Sullivan said many of them are in isolation from their own families so that they can keep helping out on the job.

Clover said it is “performing COVID-19 testing on the Living Center side of our campus once a week, for both staff and residents.”

Everyone on the nursing home side of the campus, it said, is being tested every three days.

O’Sullivan said that keeping a full staff is challenging. In addition to the six nurses who are infected, there are five medical technicians, an activity leader and a contracted hospice representative who have also tested positive. They are quarantined.

Seven nurses who typically do administrative work are now on the floor helping out, she said.

She said anybody who could see the unfolding difficulties at Clover would recognize the importance of wearing masks and following public health guidelines.

“It’s heartbreaking,” she said.

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