TEXAS CITY – Officials have confirmed eight coronavirus cases at a skilled nursing facility in Texas City.
Two residents and six employees tested positive for COVID-19, according to The Resort at Texas City Chief Operating Officer John Griffin.
“Out of the six employees that tested positive, there was one nurse that was working at multiple facilities,” Griffin said.
A few miles away, another nursing facility, Bayou Pines Care Center, also reported coronavirus activity. One employee tested positive, the group announced on their Facebook page.
Griffin was unable to confirm whether the two nursing facilities shared the same nurse that tested positive.
Since the outbreak at the facility, The Resort at Texas City has tested all 98 residents and 120 staff members, Griffin said.
“We’re the only skilled nursing facility in Harris County or Galveston County that has done this,” he said.
If any more tests come back positive, Griffin said they have set up 15 isolation suites for residents to self-quarantine.
Maxine Mason’s 90-year-old mother lives at the facility. She said the facility has not been forthcoming of new information.
“Have they called me? No. Told me anything? No. They have not said anything to me about anything,” Mason said.
Frustrated by what she called a lack of communication, Mason said she is concerned about her mother’s health. She said her mother’s roommate is experiencing pneumonia-like symptoms.
“[I’m] waiting, hoping and praying for the best,” Mason said. “Not just for my mother for all of them. Because some of them don’t have a loved one, so we have to be concerned about all of them.”
Mason has not been able to see her mother in weeks since the facility began restricting visitors on March 2.
There is one exception to the no visitation policy: if someone is on their death bed, which is a federal policy.
Michael Collopy visited with his wife, Betty, Thursday.
“My wife doesn’t have long,” he said. “She doesn’t have long.”
Collopy is already grieving for his wife of 35 years.
“She was an angel without wings,” Collopy said.
According to Collopy, Betty has been ill for years but saying goodbye has been made harder amid the pandemic.
“I can’t walk around; I can’t be nonchalant. I have to go in with garb on, face mask and gloves. Just to her room and back, which is understandable,” Collopy said. “I’m not really concerned about the virus, it’s just that I’m losing my baby.”
