Watford nursing home takes steps to prevent spread of coronavirus
By Neal A. Shipman
Farmer Editor
Precautionary steps to safeguard residents are being taken at the Good Shepherd Home long-term nursing care facility in Watford City following an announcement by North Dakota health department officials last week that a Ward County resident became the state’s first person to test positive for the coronavirus.
“If you get one person infected with the coronavirus, it can spread,” states Curtis. “We saw that happen in a Washington nursing home.”
Since Feb. 19, 26 residents of the Life Care Center, a nursing home in Kirkland, Wash., have died, 13 of which were confirmed to have COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus.
As of last week, there were at least 1,267 confirmed cases of the virus in the United States spread across 43 states and Washington, D.C, while 38 deaths have occurred as a result of the coronavirus.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, older adults and people who have serious chronic medical conditions like heart disease, diabetes and lung disease are at a higher risk of getting very sick from this illness.
In order to safeguard the health of the residents in the Good Shepherd Home and in the Horizons Assisted Living facility, Curtis says that on March 11, all doors going into the nursing home, other than the nursing home front door, were moved to “badge only” access.
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