SAN ANTONIO — UPDATE:
There are now ten confirmed deaths at the facility, and officials have released a statement saying they are "devastated" and "confounded" by the deadly outbreak.
Original Story:
Mayor Ron Nirenberg is concerned after Southeast Nursing and Rehabilitation Center officials waited until Tuesday to report that five additional residents had died at the nursing home since Sunday after testing positive for the coronavirus, bringing the total there to eight.
"Frankly a little upset that we were just notified today of the five additional fatalities that occurred between Sunday and Monday," he said. "We have to place the highest level of scrutiny as we move through and contain this localized outbreak."
Eight residents all over the age of 70 have died from coronavirus. According to the city, five of them did not show any symptoms. The last update, 75 residents and employees also testing positive.
'Our heart breaks a long with them," Nirenberg said. "And we are going to do everything in our power as a city to make sure that their loved ones are cared for, and get the proper respect the deserve."
During the outbreak, the city uncovered staff at this facility were working at ten other nursing homes in our area. As of Tuesday, the city reports after conducting some testing there are no positive cases from these other facilities. But, that can change.
"That is extremely good news," Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff said. "Our first fear, if this happened at Southeast it could have spread, and others would have it also."
Metro Health is still trying to trace how the virus ended up in a place where our most vulnerable lived.
"It had to do with one of the staff members," the mayor said. "But, we don't know how that staff member came in contact with the virus."
"We really do need to get a better understanding of what happened there," Wolff said. "Was it one person that wasn't protected? Or was it other procedures they weren't doing they should have been doing? We don't have all the answers to that yet."
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