Broome Nursing Home Visits Derailed by In-House COVID Cases

While Broome County’s seven day rolling average was 2.9% at The February 24 update, below the New York State threshold for allowing visitors to return to nursing homes, it doesn’t look like many Broome County residents will be visiting their loved ones in nursing homes in the next few days.

The state says visitations can resume February 26 for the first time in almost a year in counties where the positivity rate is below five percent on a rolling seven-day average but homes also must be COVID-free for 14 days.  Private nursing homes don’t report to the County, but Willow Point Nursing home, which is operated by Broome, was only removed from the “hot-spot” list last week. That means it has not been without a positive test for the coronavirus among residents or staff for the 14 days required by the state.

Get our free mobile app

Many of the privately-operated nursing homes in the County have also experienced problems with outbreaks in recent weeks but those agencies report directly to New York State and their numbers have not been made public.  Residents with loved ones in those nursing homes should contact the individual facilities for information on when visitations may resume and what requirements, like COVID testing may be needed.