An employee of the Maine Veterans’ Homes location in Bangor has tested positive for the coronavirus, according to the organization.
All residents and staff who lived or worked in the same unit as that employee are now being tested for the virus after the employee was confirmed to have it on Thursday, according to Josh Scroggins, director of development and communications for Maine Veterans’ Homes.
The infected employee was tested for the virus on Wednesday after starting to show symptoms on Tuesday. That person last worked in the facility last Sunday and is now quarantining at home, Scroggins said. Any residents from that employee’s unit are also quarantining in their rooms.
As of Friday, no other residents or staff had shown symptoms of COVID-19, the illness caused by the infection, Scroggins said. The facility is working to follow recommendations from the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention and keep residents’ families informed about the infection.
The Bangor facility includes 120 beds for residents to receive long term care, short term skilled nursing care, memory care, and rehabilitation and therapy, according to its website. It also has 30 beds for assisted living residential care for those in the early stages of dementia.
Another Maine Veterans’ Homes facility, in Scarborough, was the site of one of Maine’s largest coronavirus outbreaks earlier in the pandemic. The home had recorded 63 cases of the coronavirus as of early June, but that outbreak is no longer active, according to the Maine CDC.