17 residents, 6 employees test positive for COVID-19 at Brenham nursing home
BRENHAM, Texas (KTRK) -- Residents at a Brenham nursing home are recovering after 17 residents tested positive for COVID-19 during an outbreak.
Focused Care at Brenham announced in a release Wednesday that health officials were taking precautions after many residents and employees tested positive for COVID-19.
According to Focused Care at Brenham, 14 of the residents were transferred to Focused Care at Baytown, two positive residents were transferred to the Kruse Village COVID-19 unit, and the one remaining positive resident was admitted to Baylor Scott & White in Brenham.
All of the positive residents had received at least their first dose of the vaccine. In total, nine residents had received both doses and were fully vaccinated, and eight had only received one dose. However, it had not been a full two weeks since receiving the vaccine for most residents.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that immunity impact "typically takes two weeks after vaccination for the body to build protection (immunity) against the virus that causes COVID-19. That means it is possible a person could still get COVID-19 before or just after vaccination and then get sick because the vaccine did not have enough time to provide protection.
In addition to the 17 residents, six nursing home team members tested positive after the outbreak. According to Focused Care, all of the team members are quarantining off-site.
Of the six positive team members, three were not vaccinated and are symptomatic. Another team member had already received both doses of the vaccine and is not exhibiting symptoms. The remaining two team members had each received one dose of the vaccine and are exhibiting mild symptoms, Focused Care said.
According to the release, the outbreak began when a team member tested positive on Feb. 22. That's when outbreaking testing began, as required by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC).
During outbreak testing, the nursing home will test every three-to-four days until no positive tests are returned for 14 days. After that, the facility will return to its regular testing policy of twice a week.
"Focused Care will continue operating with the same safeguards in place prior to Governor Abbott's announcement until new guidance is issued by the Centers for Disease and Prevention Control (CDC) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)," the facility said in the release.
The video above is from previous reporting.
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