Two dead at Aurora veterans’ nursing home amid coronavirus outbreak

Two residents at a state-run veterans’ nursing home in Aurora have died amid an outbreak of the novel coronavirus, the Colorado Department of Human Services announced Wednesday.

Seven other residents and seven staff members at Veterans Community Living Center at Fitzsimons have tested positive for COVID-19, the highly contagious respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

Seven of the nine cases among residents happened in the facility’s dementia unit, said Madlynn Ruble, spokeswoman for the state’s department of human services, a place where she said social distancing is particularly hard to enforce. Some residents in the unit continue to “hug each other, don’t like masks and still touch their faces,” she said in a statement.

About 250 staff work in the living center and 147 people live there, Ruble said. All of the positive COVID-19 cases have been discovered on or after April 17, she said.

The Colorado National Guard planned to test all residents and staff at the facility Wednesday, and the living center will adjust its response and staffing based on those results, which should be available within 48 hours.

The 180-bed community living center serves veterans, veterans’ spouses and parents who have had a child die while serving in the military. Ruble said the facility has taken a variety of precautions during the coronavirus pandemic, including screening employees for symptoms, ensuring employees wear masks and increasing disinfecting and sanitation across the center.

A large portion of Colorado’s COVID-19 deaths have been connected to residential health care facilities, according to state data, and outbreaks have been reported at scores of facilities.