13 residents at the Clary and Wilkinson Centers test positive for COVID-19 as Governor relaxes restrictions on businesses

As Georgia Governor Brian Kemp relaxes restrictions on businesses, the two senior care facilities of Stephens County Hospital are surging in the number of COVID-19 cases.

In an email sent to the families of residents of the Wilkinson and Clary Care Centers, staff will begin testing all residents of both facilities that have not already been tested for COVID-19.

According to the email, “this decision was made after conferring with Stephens County Hospital Administration and Infection Control…the results came in…and there are eight positive cases in Wilkinson and five positive cases at Clary.”

As stated in the email, all 13 residents have been and remain without symptoms.

Staff, at both centers, will continue to wear appropriate PPE with any known positive cases. All staff will continue to wear a mask at all times when they are in either facility.

The email also addresses residents who have tested negative for the virus, stating, they will have a low threshold for retesting them, if at any time they become the least bit symptomatic. Staff will continue to communicate the status of all testing and other pertinent information to the families of those affected should this occur.

Over a week ago, Stephens County Hospital moved to require testing in the ER of any person coming from a group living facility such as personal care homes, assisted living, skilled nursing, etc.; and they will continue to do this as a method of early detection.

The email goes on to explain that the residents who initially tested positive, and are hospitalized at Stephens County Hospital, will not be allowed back into the Clary or Wilkinson Centers until they test negative.

For several weeks,  after recommendations from the State, neither centers have been accepting new residents into their facilities.  They have also restricted trips out of the facilities to those that are medically necessary and only then with special precautions in place.

Staff have also requested the National Guard to come in an assist them with deep cleaning efforts; this was set in motion early last week and they will be on site Tuesday morning.

The email adds that at both centers, every employee will be tested for the virus during the first of this week in an effort to identify any other asymptomatic carriers and further mitigate as much risk to the residents as possible.

WNEG News will continue to follow this story and bring you additional details as they become available.