'She just celebrated her 90th birthday:' 6 COVID deaths in 2 days at Vance County nursing home

According to a Granville-Vance public health update issued Thursday, Senior Citizens Home Inc. in Henderson has seen eight total deaths, with six of those coming on Tuesday and Wednesday.

"It is difficult to see the latest data associated with Senior Citizens Nursing Home which includes 47 residents and 24 staff members positive for COVID-19 as of 5 p.m.," Lisa Macon Harrison, Granville-Vance County health director, said on Friday.

A woman who lost her grandmother said even the slightest connection was stolen from her because she didn’t know her grandmother had the virus until it was too late.

“It’s heartbreaking it really is heartbreaking. She just celebrated her 90th birthday," Reneka Colbert said of her grandmother, Una Mae Daye.

Colbert said she was never notified that her grandmother was gravely ill. It was when someone called to check up on her Tuesday that they received the heartbreaking news.

"It’s hard to lose someone, but it’s heartbreaking, and it hurts a little more that it was this way," she said.

Harrison said how and when to notify families is up to the individual facility.

At Senior Citizens Home, three people died on Nov. 17 – an 88-year-old man and women ages 86 and 90. On Nov. 18, three women died, ages 80, 97 and 99.

Across Vance County, there were 335 active cases of the novel coronavirus reported this week, with about 10% of those in long-term care facilities. Thirty-four people have died while in long-term care facilities in the county. In addition to the eight at Senior Citizens Home, 12 have died at Kerr Lake Nursing Home, and 14 have died at Pelican Nursing Home.

Data released this week by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services shows Vance County with "substantial" coronavirus spread, averaging about 465 cases per 100,000 people over the past 14 days, and a 9% positivity rate among those tested for the coronavirus.

Almost 5,000 people (4,979) have died of the virus statewide since the pandemic began, and another 1,571 were being treated for COVID-19 in North Carolina hospitals on Friday.

About 75% of regular hospital beds and 80% of those available in intensive care units across the state were occupied, most of them by patients who do not have coronavirus.

The state reported 3,688 new cases of the virus diagnosed on Friday.

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