Dare County Health & Human Services has received confirmation of four new positive cases of COVID-19 linked to residents and staff members at Peak Resources, a nursing and rehabilitation facility in Nags Head.
The state of North Carolina defines an outbreak of COVID-19 in a long-term care facility as two or more laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 within 28 days.
Per N.C. DHHS requirements, whenever a new resident is admitted to a long-term care facility the individual must be placed in quarantine for 14 days from the date of admission. It was during a recent quarantine that two residents and two staff members tested positive for the virus, the health department said.
Peak Resources has been strictly following all Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and N.C. DHSS guidelines, which has included bi-weekly testing of all staff members since early August, health officials said.
As part of the bi-weekly testing plan, all Peak Resources staff members were tested on Sept. 8, and all were negative.
“Peak Resources has taken swift action to prevent the spread of COVID-19 since the notification of the initial positive resident result on Sept. 13, 2020,” the health department said in a news release.
All residents and staff members were tested on Monday, Sept. 14 and Tuesday, Sept. 15. All 72 resident tests have been returned and are negative. Results have been received for 59 of the 70 staff member tests, and 57 are negative and two are positive.The two positive staff member tests are the ones mentioned above. If any additional positive tests results are received, they will be reported in future updates.
“Positive COVID-19 cases in a long-term care facility understandably create concern for residents, staff and family members,” states Dr. Sheila Davies, director of the Dare County Department of Health & Human Services. “We are working very close with the leadership at Peak Resources to support their efforts in mitigating the spread of COVID-19. I am grateful for the hard work and dedication demonstrated by Peak Resources to ensure the safety of their residents and staff.”
Melissa Harrison, local administrator at Peak Resources, stated, “Protecting the health of those we care for and the community we service remains our highest priority. We are making every effort to ensure we stop the spread of the coronavirus within our facility. We are extremely proud of our staff members and their rapid and diligent response in handling a very unique and difficult situation.”
According to Harrison, “Since late January, we have been closely following the guidelines established by the CDC, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Division of Public Health. We will remain in active communication with the local and state health officials to ensure we are taking the appropriate steps.”
For more information on COVID-19 at Peak Resources, visit www.peakresourcesinc.com. In the black menu bar at the top of the page, select “COVID” to access the most current information.
For more information on COVID-19 in Dare County, please visit www.darenc.com/covid19 or call the Dare County COVID-19 Call Center, which is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., at 252.475.5008.
