170 coronavirus cases confirmed at FutureCare Lochearn in Baltimore in largest nursing home outbreak in state

A Northwest Baltimore nursing home is reporting 129 cases of coronavirus among its residents and 41 positive tests among its staff in one of the largest outbreaks of COVID-19 in the country.

The FutureCare Lochearn facility reported its first confirmed case March 31, Baltimore Health Commissioner Dr. Letitia Dzirasa said, and FutureCare officials said they had been working to follow guidance restricting visitors and requiring staff wear protective equipment.

Most of the residents were not showing symptoms linked to coronavirus infection, and still aren’t, FutureCare spokeswoman Holly O’Shea said in a statement. But nursing home administrators “felt strongly that it was important to know who was carrying the virus, even if they didn’t present specific COVID-19 symptoms, to mitigate its spread and protect our staff and residents,” she said.

“This type of surveillance testing is unprecedented and can save lives,” she added.

It was not immediately clear when the facility conducted the widespread testing, or how many suspected cases it had at that point. O’Shea could not be reached for additional comment.

With 170 total cases at FutureCare Lochearn, the cluster appears to be the second-largest in the country tied to nursing homes, behind only the Soldiers’ Home in Holyoke, Massachusetts, where 194 people have contracted the coronavirus, according to data collected by The New York Times. It is the eighth-largest coronavirus cluster in the country, behind only outbreaks on an aircraft carrier, in jails and prisons and at a pork processing plant, according to the data.

COVID-19 infections have now been reported in nearly two-thirds of Maryland nursing homes — 145 of 226 facilities, according to state officials. The Times reported Tuesday that coronavirus infections have been reported in 2,500 nursing homes and long-term care facilities across the country, with 21,000 people infected and 3,800 killed.

City health officials are assisting FutureCare, Mayor Bernard C. “Jack” Young said. And state officials said FutureCare notified them of the outbreak Tuesday night, and Wednesday morning requested a nursing home “strike team” to help manage the situation. They sent a team that includes members of the National Guard, EMS clinicians and doctors and nurses from local hospitals, to the facility, officials said.

O’Shea said FutureCare is also working with partners at LifeBridge Health and Johns Hopkins Medicine, and that the company’s “highest priority continues to be the safety and well-being of our staff and residents.”

Under state and federal guidelines, patients who have tested positive for coronavirus are to be segregated from those who test negative. It was not immediately clear how many residents typically share rooms, if any, at the facility.

Health workers are also required to follow strict protocol when caring for protected patients, including wearing gowns, masks and face shields. Under an order Gov. Larry Hogan issued last week, all care providers must wear masks at all times in nursing homes.

That order aimed to prevent the spread of the virus through staff members who aren’t showing any symptoms of COVID-19 illness, as was the case in the outbreak at Pleasant View in Carroll County. Dzirasa said the outbreak is a reminder of the dangers of asymptomatic transmission.

“It is safe to assume when we go places, we may come in contact with people not showing symptoms,” she said.

It serves patients on hemodialysis and provides both short-term rehabilitation and long-term care, according to its website. It has received “average” ratings from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for health inspections and evaluations of staffing, and a five-star, “much above average” rating for quality of care.

Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, a former city and state health commissioner now on the faculty at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said the FutureCare outbreak demonstrates “the scale of the challenge” of protecting nursing home residents while work to study how the virus is spreading in those facilities remains ongoing.

“I think there will be a lot learned from this outbreak that could help with understanding the risks we may not have fully appreciated,” he said.