Covid-19 outbreak at Dublin nursing home infects 21 residents and five staff

A Dublin nursing home is battling a Covid-19 outbreak that has infected 21 residents and five staff, and resulted in the deaths of two residents.

Elmhurst Nursing Home in Glasnevin, part of the privately-owned Highfield Healthcare group, said that increased community transmission had led to the virus getting into the nursing home and leading to Covid-19 infections among the 46 residents and 40 full-time staff.

The first confirmed case was caught on December 21st during routine serial testing of nursing homes for Covid-19, which the care facility said had been crucial in managing the outbreak.

The death of one of the residents has been reported as a coronavirus death and the other is considered a Covid-19 probable death and will most likely be reported as such in the next few days, the nursing home said.

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“We are deeply saddened by these deaths, and our deepest sympathies go to the families of these residents,” Elmhurst said.

The facility said it could manage staff shortages due to the swift return of Covid-19 test results, but that continued management of the outbreak depended on infection rate levels.

It said north Dublin had “particularly high levels of infection positivity at present”.

Elmhurst’s residents are due to receive the Covid-19 Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines this month.

“We will do everything in our power to support this programme and ensure it is rolled out across our facility as efficiently and quickly as possible,” said the nursing home.

First infection

Another nursing home, Droimnín Nursing Home in Stradbally, Co Laois, is also managing an outbreak that has infected 40 of its 65 residents and infected 20 of its 70 staff.

There has been one Covid-19-related death at the privately-owned nursing home. The majority of the infected residents are not showing symptoms.

The nursing home detected the first infection from the virus on December 29th in a resident who had been discharged from hospital. All residents were tested the following day, and positive test results were diagnosed among 13 residents on December 31st. The virus has spread since then.

"We are working around the clock to do everything we can to protect the residents and support the staff," said Gearóíd Brennan, chief executive of Brookhaven, which owns the care home.

The HSE had provided some staff to cover at the nursing home, but Mr Brennan said the nursing home needed more support from the health service.

“We are searching all over the place trying to get more staff. We are managing the situation and it is under control but it is very challenging,’ said Mr Brennan.

This is the first Covid-19 outbreak experienced by the Co Laois care home in the pandemic.

“It has got in and we are dealing with it and doing everything we possibly can,” said Mr Brennan.

There were 13 new Covid-19 outbreaks in nursing homes in the week to December 26th, an increase of four on the previous week, according to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre.