Nursing Home Accounts For Nearly Half Of County's COVID-19 Deaths

DOUGLASVILLE, GA — With more COVID-19 cases than 92 percent of other Georgia care centers ranked by the state, a Douglasville nursing home has reported 11 deaths since the pandemic started, almost half the county’s total.

Douglasville Nursing and Rehabilitation Center on Highway 5 reports that 58 of its 183 residents — nearly a third — have tested positive for COVID-19, according to numbers released Thursday by the Georgia Department of Public Health. Ten employees also have tested positive, and 11 residents have died of the disease.

The only other Douglas County nursing home on the list of 389 facilities was Legacy Ridge at Sweetwater Creek on Lee Road. Only one of its 49 residents had tested positive for COVID-19, and none had died.

Douglasville Nursing and Rehabilitation Center has the 29th most COVID-19 cases out of 489 personal-care facilities ranked by Georgia. Legacy Ridge is one of several dozen facilities that reports no deaths at all.

As of Thursday, Douglas County has tallied 536 cases and 24 deaths from COVID-19. Only one of the deceased was younger than 56, and most had underlying health conditions.

Dr. Janet Memark, medical director for Cobb & Douglas Public Health, told the Douglas County Sentinel that her agency and the National Guard have been working to help clean the facilities and stem the spread of the coronavirus.

“They have been very cooperative and have tried hard to do everything they can to protect their residents,” Memark told the Sentinel. “Asymptomatic spread of COVID-19 has been very challenging and especially so for our most vulnerable elderly and medically frail in group-living settings.”