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21
Jan 2021
Harrogate district care homes 'ravaged' by covid
A care home company boss has spoken of the struggle to contain recent outbreaks of covid that have "ravaged" homes in the Harrogate district.
A total of 258 care home residents and staff in North Yorkshire currently have covid, according to figures from North Yorkshire County Council this week.
Tracey Holroyd is chairman of Warmest Welcome, whose Westfield House Nursing Home in Killinghall has suffered one death recently and currently has 12 infections.
Warmest Welcome owns eight other homes, including The Crest Care Home in Harrogate, and Ms Holroyd said all but one had been hit hard by covid recently, along with many others in the care sector.
She said the new mutant strain of covid struck Westfield House over Christmas.
Westfield House had hardly suffered any covid infections until Christmas.
Read more:
- Harrogate care boss 'frustrated' at vaccine rollout
- All Harrogate district care homes to get vaccine this week
Ms Holroyd said staff followed all the correct protocols but the speed of transmission in a building full of vulnerable older people was devastating. She said:
Ms Holroyd said the manager and deputy manager had both been off but were now back, and that having so many staff absent had been a "massive problem".
The infections are also delaying the vaccination programme at Westfield House. Ms Holroyd paid tribute to the dedication of staff during such a difficult time, adding:
North Yorkshire County Council said this week 76 out of 235 care settings in the county, which includes care homes and extra care facilities, has one or more positive covid case.
Of that number, 55 have recorded outbreaks, which is two or more cases. Nine have large outbreaks, which is defined as 10 or more cases.
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