Coronavirus: 1 In 4 Infected At Cartersville Nursing Home

CARTERSVILLE, GA — One in four residents of a Bartow County nursing home have tested positive for the coronavirus, according to statistics released Friday by the Georgia Department of Health.

Townsend Park Health and Rehabilitation of Cartersville reports 23 cases of COVID-19 and seven deaths among its 93 residents, the 9th highest number of deaths in Georgia among nursing homes and long-term care facilities. Fourteen Townsend employees also have tested positive for the coronavirus.

Two other Cartersville homes have reported cases:

• Maple Ridge Health Care Center, with nine resident cases and six deaths. Six employees also have tested positive.
• Tranquility of Cartersville, with two resident cases and no deaths. No employees have tested positive. Numbers reported Friday by the Georgia Department of Health were incorrect, according to administrator April Hyde. She said she's working with state officials to correct those numbers in the next report.

Highland Senior Living also was inaccurately reported as having one case and one death, said administrator Erica McDaniel. She said the facility had no cases or deaths. The one resident who had been counted as having COVID-19 actually caught it after leaving for another facility. She died and did not return.

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As of Friday, 35 of Bartow County’s 250 reported cases of COVID-19 were in nursing homes or assisted living facilities, with 15 of the county’s 22 deaths reported there. All but one of the fatalities in Bartow County were 65 or older, and all had underlying health conditions.

Nursing homes and long-term care facilities have been hit especially hard — with 250 deaths out of 689 total as of Friday across Georgia, such facilities account for more than a third of the state’s deaths. Older people and those with chronic underlying conditions are especially vulnerable to the coronavirus.

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