SAN ANTONIO — The nursing home at the epicenter of San Antonio's worst coronavirus outbreak has issued a statement days after reporting the deaths of five more residents.
"Our entire team at Southeast Nursing and Rehabilitation Services is saddened, devastated and somewhat confounded by the deaths of our residents as well as the test results revealing more cases among people who live and work here," the statement from Southeast Nursing and Rehabilitation Center begins.
According to the nursing home, staff "implemented every single protection order and protocol issued by the Metropolitan Health District, the State of Texas, the Centers for Disease Control and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. That included the tough restrictions for family visits as well as visits by outside therapists.
Ten residents at the Southeast Nursing and Rehabilitation Center have died from coronavirus. According to city officials, five of them did not show any symptoms. At the last update, 75 residents and employees had tested positive.
During the city's daily coronavirus briefing Tuesday, Mayor Nirenberg spoke to the outbreak, saying the city's "heart breaks along with them. 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 they deserve."
While investigating the outbreak, city officials learned 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 at the nursing home. In Thursday's statement, Southeast Nursing and Rehabilitation Services said they didn't know where this all started.
"Cases of this horrible disease apparently raced through our building, and like every similar provider in the country, we don’t know how or even when Covid-19 got inside our sealed environment," the nursing home said. "We also don’t know if a carrier was asymptomatic or if the virus was brought in a different way.”
"It had to do with one of the staff members," Mayor Nirenberg said Tuesday. "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," Judge 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."
“This is exhausting for residents, staff and families, Southeast Nursing Home said. "Please know we are doing everything possible to care for each person here and we will continue to provide the best protections available. We are hopeful this situation serves as a cautionary notice to all senior living and rehabilitation centers.
"Covid-19 is an evil and fast enemy. Be prepared.”