SALISBURY, N.C. — Rowan County has reported 17 COVID-19 related deaths, but 16 of them are at congregate living facilities -- places like nursing homes.
Channel 9 reporter Mark Becker first broke news about an outbreak at the Veterans Home in Salisbury, where several veterans have died.
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On Wednesday, Mark spoke with a daughter terrified for her father.
Kendra Johnson can’t help herself. She found out that the nurse who cares for her 70-year-old father at the Veterans Home tested positive for the coronavirus.
[ Second patient at NC State Veterans Home in Salisbury dies from COVID-19 ]
It’s been an emotional rollercoaster since the virus got into the Veterans Home, where her father is living.
“It was my understanding that this had been contained,” Johnson told Channel 9.
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“We take every opportunity to share guidance with these facilities,” said Rowan County’s Emergency Management Director T.J. Brown.
Brown said of the county’s 17 deaths from coronavirus, 16 have been in the two long-term care facilities at the Veterans Home and the Citadel nursing home, where 102 residents have tested positive for the virus.
[ Health officials deflecting criticism for outbreak at Rowan County nursing home ]
“They tell us they're doing the things they're supposed to be doing and we have to trust that what they're telling us is what they're doing,” Brown said.
Several employees of the Citadel, and at least one at the Veterans Home, have tested positive. Johnson wonders where it will stop -- if it will stop.
“How can anybody, resident, staff alike, in these facilities stay safe? Be safe?” she asked. “And then, when – when, oh when -- will they get to see their families again?”
That may be the toughest part for everyone: Families cannot even get in to see their loved ones -- even those who may be dying.
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