Bellingham nursing facility sees 95% of residents test positive during COVID outbreak
Of the 40 residents at the Highland Health and Rehabilitation skilled nursing facility in Bellingham, 95% have tested positive for COVID-19 during an outbreak that began nearly a month ago, the Whatcom County Health Department reported.
Ten of the 38 residents that tested positive have since died, Whatcom County Health Department Director Erika Lautenbach reported during an online press briefing Wednesday, Oct. 14.
Additionally, nearly a third of the staff at the facility (18 of 60 staff members) tested positive, Lautenbach said, meaning the outbreak has now spread to 56 people.
“This outbreak has been such a tragic and challenging issue for this community,” Lautenbach said, adding that the facility has been working closely with the health department and its response team as well as other state regulating agencies during the outbreak.
The health department first released news of the Highland outbreak Sept. 29, saying it began Sept. 18 and had spread to 39 people and contributed to six deaths. On Friday, Oct. 9, the health department reported that 15 more residents had tested positive and four more had died.
The numbers Lautenbach released Wednesday mean one more resident and one more staff member have been added to those totals, but no other related deaths have occurred.
Lautenbach said she did not know how many of the cases at Highland — either among residents or staff — have since resolved. She also reported that the facility is testing the remaining residents and staff members who have not tested positive every Tuesday and Friday, “which allows us to rapidly address new cases and check how we’re doing in preventing it spreading to others.”
The outbreak at Highland is the second large outbreak at a Bellingham nursing facility during the pandemic. The health department reported an outbreak at Shuksan Healthcare on March 22. That outbreak resulted in 54 coronavirus cases — 31 residents and 23 employees — and 10 resident deaths.
The Good Samaritan Society-Stafholt nursing home in Blaine had 13 cases, including 11 residents in late March, while Lynden Manor had 14 residents test positive and two die.
“In these facilities, it’s really hard to contain,” Lautenbach told the Whatcom County Council at a Sept. 29 meeting.
