Coronavirus outbreak at Colchester nursing home has infected at least 40 residents and staff

A total of 40 people, including 32 residents, at the Harrington Court Nursing Home in Colchester have tested positive for the coronavirus as state officials deal with yet another outbreak in a long-term care facility.

Russell Melmed, director of the Chatham Health District, said Thursday morning there had been no deaths so far, but that the outbreak, which is believed to have started early last week, is still not contained.

Melmed said as of Tuesday there were 32 residents who had tested positive and eight staff members. The state Department of Public Health has moved a mobile testing unit to the nursing home in order to conduct rapid testing to try and contain the outbreak.

It is unclear how the outbreak started. DPH investigators have been at the nursing home since last week when the positive cases started being reported. In numbers released on Friday the state said there were 11 cases at Harrington.

“It still looks to be an acceleration of the outbreak and it’s not contained yet,” Melmed said.

Harrington Court had 84 residents as of last week, meaning nearly 40% of the residents have been infected. Harrington is owned by Genesis Health Care.

Some of the residents who tested positive were moved to another Genesis facility that has a COVID-only wing -- Quinnipiac Valley Center in Wallingford, according to Melmed. Genesis officials could not be reached for comment Thursday morning.

Colchester First Selectwoman Mary Bylone said she was told the first positive cases occurred early last week.

'Harrington Court made it several months free of COVID and they have done a really good job overall, but this just shows how quickly the virus can spread once it gets into these congregate settings," Bylone said.

Dave Altimari can be reached at daltimari@courant.com.

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