Erie County Health Department battling three COVID-19 outbreaks

SANDUSKY — The Erie County Health Department is dealing with outbreaks of COVID-19 at three hotspots, including one that has claimed 13 lives so far at the Ohio Veterans Home. The hotspots are the Ohio Veterans Home in Perkins Township; a Willoway Nurseries employee housing unit on U.S. 6 east of Huron, and a Corso's Flower and Garden Center plant growing operation on the southwest corner of Bardshar Road and Bogart Road. As of Monday, 13 people have died from COVID-19 at the Ohio Veterans Home, while 50 people have tested positive, including 36 residents and 14 staff members. Five residents are in quarantine at the state's other veterans home, in Georgetown, but no one there has tested positive. Schade said testing is continuing at the Sandusky OVH. He said results came back Sunday for 119 samples — two positive, 117 negative. The Ohio Veterans Home has worked hard to try to keep the spread of the virus down, including dedicating staff members to certain patients, Schade said. About 70 percent of Ohio's COVID-19 deaths have been in state nursing homes. As of Monday, Ohio had 2,206 total deaths. On Friday, the last date that figures for nursing homes were available, the state reported 1,442 nursing home deaths. Erie County has 12 nursing homes, including the OVH, and the other 11 were doing fine Monday, Schade said. Schade said 11 Willoway employees have now been confirmed as testing positive. Four people have been confirmed positive in the Corso's outbreak, Schade said. Meanwhile, mass testing for anyone who has requested a COVID-19 test began Saturday and was scheduled to continue until Saturday. The testing is being carried out jointly by three organizations: The community clinic at the health department, Family Health Services and Firelands Regional Medical Center. Schade said 1,700 people have signed up for testing slots at the health department and said appointments remain available, while 300-to-400 people have signed up for testing at Family Health Testing, said the organization's CEO, David Tatro. Figures for Firelands testing were not immediately available Monday after an inquiry to a spokesman. Schade said testing is being done both for the virus and for the presence of antibodies in people who apparently became sick and recovered. The samples are being tested by LabCorp, a leading clinical laboratory company. While there have been reports some antibody tests in the U.S. have not been reliable, Schade said he has confidence in the LabCorp test, which is approved by the FDA. People who test positive for COVID-19 antibodies should not assume they are immune from the disease, as many facts about the epidemic are still in question, Schade said. "We don't want people to get a false sense of security," Schade said. As of Monday, Erie County had 175 COVID-19 cases, up six from Sunday, and 15 deaths from the disease, an increase of one. Six patients were being treated for COVID-19 at Firelands Regional Medical Center. No employees of the Firelands Regional Health System were currently positive for coronavirus on Monday. Other county figures Monday: Ottawa, 103 cases, 16 deaths; Sandusky, 81 cases, 11 deaths; Huron, 60 cases, one death; Lorain, 692 cases, 59 deaths; Cuyahoga, 4,508 cases, 241 deaths. Franklin County had 5,933 cases and 271 deaths on Monday. Ohio had 35,984 confirmed cases as of Monday and 2,206 deaths. The U.S. had 1,799,747 confirmed cases and 104,702 deaths Monday, while the world had 6,229,408 cases and 373,973 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins.