Rapid Response Team Extended Amid Cape Cod COVID Outbreak

YARMOUTH, MA — Patch has learned that a state rapid response team will stay an additional two days at Windsor Skilled Nursing and Rehab Center amid a COVID-19 outbreak that killed five residents.

Officials from Integritus Healthcare told Patch that the rapid response team will stay until Friday at 3 p.m. Vice President of Business Development and Communications Lisa Gaudet also confirmed the updated case totals at Windsor.

Gaudet tells Patch that, as of Tuesday afternoon, 11 of the 20 staff members who tested positive for COVID-19 were still isolating, while nine had returned to work.

Additionally, 60 of the 75 residents who tested positive for COVID-19 have recovered while 10 remain in isolation as of 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday.

An admission freeze is also ongoing at Windsor. The nursing home must go five days without a new resident case and complete a successful infection control survey from the state health department before the freeze can be lifted, Gaudet said.

The facility hasn't had a new resident case in three days, Gaudet said Tuesday.

When asked to address what circumstances led to more resident deaths during this outbreak, five, than the entirety of the pandemic, one, Gaudet offered this statement:

"In terms of the deaths, we are not at liberty to discuss the circumstances surrounding a patient’s death under HIPAA. Under DPH guidelines we must report a death as COVID related if at the time of the resident’s death if they are currently COVID positive, or if their death occurs within 30 days of them having been COVID positive regardless if there were other contributing factors in that individual’s death."

To learn more about the state's rapid response team, read this story: Cape Cod COVID Outbreak Prompted Rapid Response Team: What That Means