1st Coronavirus Death Report At Point Pleasant Boro Nursing Home

POINT PLEASANT BORO – The first death among 55 cases of the coronavirus has been reported in a Point Pleasant Boro nursing home, according to statistics released by the state Department of Health.

The Ocean Crest Pointe Rehabilitation & Healthcare Center in Point Pleasant Boro has had 55 cases of the coronavirus and one deaths, according to the data.

Another 29 nursing care facilities in Ocean County have had at least one patient who died of complications from the new coronavirus, and 13 facilities have had more than 50 positive cases of the virus.

Those were some of the numbers revealed Thursday, weeks after the state Department of Health forst released information on all nursing facilities in New Jersey who have reported at least one case of the coronavirus.

More than 150 people in Point Pleasant Boro have tested positive for the coronavirus. Read more: Latest Point Pleasant Coronavirus Updates: What You Need To Know

The Ocean County Health Department is now listing the number of deaths from the coronavirus in Point Pleasant Boro and Point Pleasant Beach. Read more: Coronavirus Fatalities Now Listed For Point Pleasant Boro, Beach

The listing comes after weeks of requests for the information and repeated warnings from the state to the owners and managers of long-term care facilities about their need to report that information to patients, employees and patients' families, Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli said Monday.

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Long-term care facilities, however, have been a point of concern in Ocean County since the earliest stages of the outbreak, as has been the potential spillover to the senior community at large. More than 173,000 of the county's residents — nearly a third of the 607,000 — are seniors.

There were more than 100,000 people who have tested positive for the coronavirus across New Jersey as of Tuesday, and more than 6,000 of them have died, according to the state health department. Read more: NJ Coronavirus Updates: Here's What You Need To Know

Dan Regenye, public health coordinator for the Ocean County Health Department, said the county started putting plans in place to assist nursing facilities in the county before the first case was confirmed. Read more: Ocean County Nursing Home Coronavirus Cases, Deaths Released

There are 54 facilities overall in Ocean, with 35 of them licensed as nursing homes and 19 licensed as assisted living. Some share a physical address but are licensed separately, Regenye said.

"This is one area we knew would be a problem and we dedicated resources from the start," Regenye said. "They're just such a fragile high-risk population."

There are four nurses and an epidemiologist assigned to work directly with nursing facilities where a patient has been diagnosed. They are the liaison with each facility, making sure they have all the proper information from how to ensure patients are properly isolated to try to prevent the spread to others to discussing how facilities are handling what are usually joint meals.

"They (the liaisons) reinforce the CDC guidelines" for handling patients in these settings, Regenye said.

The county health department has been working to put facilities in contact with state and local authorities as well, he said, and coordinating efforts with the Ocean County Senior Services department.

Karen Wall reported for this story.