A massive outbreak of the coronavirus in a senior home in New Jersey is presumed to have infected nearly 100 residents.
St. Joseph’s Senior Home in Woodbridge, New Jersey, has confirmed that 24 of its elderly residents have tested positive for coronavirus. The facility predicts that all 94 of the seniors living in the building have been infected with COVID-19.
John Hagerty, a spokesman for Woodbridge, reported that the first positive test for a resident came back on March 17, and at least one additional resident has tested positive every day since that first test was taken. He said the facility is running with the mindset that every resident has caught the virus.
“This is the presumption,” Hagerty told NBC News. “That all have been exposed and would be positive.”
The entire facility was evacuated to a nearby hospital on Wednesday. Several staff members and one nun who works for the facility have been infected since the outbreak began, resulting in staffing shortages that forced the facility to evacuate completely.
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State health authorities coordinated the evacuation with CareOne, a hospital 30 miles from the senior home. Prior to the residents’ arrival, the hospital moved the 61 patients already receiving care to other hospitals in the area to make room on Tuesday.
“They couldn’t co-mingle,” said a representative from CareOne, explaining why they chose to send the 61 patients elsewhere. “The (CareOne) families were understanding. Certainly it was an inconvenience, but this is a national health emergency.”
The coronavirus can be particularly dangerous to elderly people or those with underlying health conditions. People over the age of 80 have a fatality rate of nearly 15% when battling the virus.
New Jersey has the second-highest population of infected people in the United States, trailing only New York. As of Thursday afternoon, New Jersey had more than 4,400 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 62 related deaths.
