Co Donegal nursing home is latest to report Covid-19 outbreak

Another nursing home has reported a major coronavirus outbreak with Brindley Manor Nursing Home in Convoy, Co Donegal saying it has 30 confirmed cases of Covid-19.

The nursing home said in a statement that family members of residents have been contacted to inform them of the outbreak.

“We cannot comment on the status of these cases as they are personal health related matters,” said a spokeswoman for the home.

“A family liaison officer has been appointed and will be engaging with the relatives of our residents to provide regular status updates on the health, welfare, and care of their loved one,” said the spokeswoman.

Trump’s top adviser Stephen Miller tests positive for coronavirus

---

Boris Johnson indulges in make-believe with misfiring conference speech

---

Club Players’ Association challenge ‘unfair’ decision to cancel games

---

UCD and NUIG to stay teaching online until after Christmas

---

The care facility has said that the infected residents who have tested positive for the virus are isolating in their rooms.

The home’s director of nursing is leading the care team at the nursing home and is working closely with the HSE’s public health department and the home’s medical director “to ensure all appropriate measures are put in place to contain the virus”.

The east Donegal home, run by The Brindley Manor Federation of Nursing Homes, has been in operation for two decades.

The home remains fully operational but is closed to non-essential visitors in line with Level 3 government restrictions.

The HSE confirmed it was providing public health and infection control guidance and support to Brindley Manor Nursing Home to support it to manage the current outbreak of Covid-19.

“The majority of residents who have tested positive have no symptoms and a small number have mild symptoms,” the HSE said.

“The HSE is examining the infection control procedures and is working with the nursing home to mange the situation.”

This is the second major outbreak at a nursing home reported this week.

Co Laois nursing home Kilminchy Lodge confirmed on Tuesday that it is dealing with 31 coronavirus cases in one of the biggest outbreaks of the disease in a care facility since infections started rising again.

Brindley Manor and Kilminchy Lodge are part of the same privately owned nursing home group, Brindley Healthcare.

Kilminchy Lodge Nursing Home in Portlaoise said that it is managing 21 cases of the Covid-19 disease among residents and a further 10 cases among staff.

The State’s chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan warned the Government in a letter on Sunday about increasing Covid-19 cases in nursing homes as he sought stronger public measures to suppress the virus.

He said that at least 45 further coronavirus cases have been confirmed among nursing home residents in seven new outbreaks reported over the past week.

There are 31 open outbreaks of Covid-19 in nursing homes, down from 38 at the end of last month. An outbreak is declared closed after 28 days without any new reported cases.

Nursing homes have been at the frontline of the pandemic, accounting for more than half of the 1,810 deaths from the disease in the State since the first nursing home outbreak in March.

The HSE has been carrying out serial testing of staff across 568 nursing homes in an attempt to identify cases before outbreaks occur.

The positivity rate in the testing has been rising, from 0.13 per cent in July to 0.19 per cent in August to 0.33 per cent on almost 42,000 swabs so far taken during September and this month.