LUBBOCK, Texas — On Wednesday, Lubbock Health Director Katherine Wells confirmed for EverythingLubbock.com that two employees and a resident at Carillon House, 1717 Norfolk Avenue, tested positive for COVID-19.
Wells said the tests results came back earlier this week. Wells also said staffers with the health department, as of Wednesday, continued to test the employees and the residents.
Carillon said in a written statement, “We enhanced our internal processes and protocols at the onset of this health crisis to better protect our community.”
Carillon also said precautions include increased frequency of cleaning. (See the full statement below.)
In March, four nursing homes were placed under heightened surveillance by the city: Whisperwood Nursing Home & Rehabilitation Center, Heritage Oaks Nursing & Rehabilitation Center, Southern Specialty Rehab & Nursing and Lakeside Rehabilitation Center.
In the first week of April, the city informed families that Garrison Geriatric Education and Care Center had one patient (who transferred from Whisperwood) who tested positive for COVID-19.
As of Wednesday morning, Lubbock suffered 38 deaths from COVID-19 or coronavirus. There were 458 total cases. Of those, 218 of the total were connected to nursing homes which works out to just less than 48 percent of the vote.
Carillon issued the following statement:
Thank you for reaching out. I can confirm that two employees and one resident at Carillon, has tested positive for COVID-19. The health and safety of our employees and residents are our top priority; therefore, we enhanced our internal processes and protocols at the onset of this health crisis to better protect our community. We are supporting the affected employees and resident, who are currently in self-quarantine. Our hope is that our all three have a full and rapid recovery.
We will continue to follow the increased precautions that we implemented weeks ago upon first learning that COVID-19 had entered the U.S.:
- Increasing the frequency and rigor of cleaning and sanitizing common community areas
- Restricting visitors
- Canceling all large on-site group social events and recreational activities
- Making the CDC’s COVID-19 prevention resources and recommendations available to all residents
- Screening all employees daily, including taking temperatures each time they exit and re-enter the community
- Requiring all employees are wearing masks and gloves while caring for residents
- Due to privacy restrictions, we cannot share any additional information.
Pamela Roddy, MBA, LNFA, CDP
Executive Director
