The state lists 10 care facilities in Mahoning County with cases of COVID-19, including assisted living Inn at Glenellen in North Lima with 16 — the most in the county.

The Ohio Department of Health released a list of the long-term care facilities, such as nursing homes, that have had at least one case of the COVID-19 virus among their residents and staff.

Three Trumbull County facilities are listed and none in Columbiana County, although a Columbiana County official said it has had seven cases in long-term care facilities.

The listing, released on the ODH website Thursday, also told how many cases each facility has had since Jan. 1.

The listings will be updated at 2 p.m. each Wednesday. They can be found under the “Dashboards” category of the website.

Diane Reese, who owns the Inn at Glenellen and several other Mahoning County long-term care facilities with her husband, Ed, said one possible explanation for the high number of COVID cases is “how social these residents are — dining, playing cards together — unlike a skilled nursing facility.

“Glenellen is a community which is truly a family, and we feel that’s why the virus affected such a number of people here due to the sense of community and time everyone spent with each other,” she said.

The facility currently has no positive COVID-19 cases. She declined to say whether any of the 16 cases resulted in a death. The facility has 61 apartments and more than 60 residents.

She said the CDC recognized that having married couples among their residents may have increased the number of cases because one of the spouses can more easily infect the other.

“We continue to work daily with the Mahoning County Health Department and have welcomed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention into our building for additional guidance,” she said.

“During the visit, the CDC had very few modifications to be made and actually were very pleased with the steps we have taken and continue to take and complimented our staff and administration for being so proactive in protecting our residents and our wonderful staff.”

She said the facility was “very proactive” in stopping group dining and group activities “even before the orders came out from the governor’s office.”

HOT SPOTS

Ohio Department of Health Director Dr. Amy Acton last week said that “hot spots” had flared up at some nursing homes in the Youngstown area. Local health officials had said they would not identify the specific facilities experiencing COVID cases.

But Gov. Mike DeWine announced Monday the Ohio Department of Health would be listing the facilities with COVID cases on its coronavirus.ohio.gov website. On the same day, the Department of Health issued an order requiring long-term care facilities to notify residents and families within 24 hours of a resident or staff member testing positive for the virus.

The website states the number of cases shown on its list may include people who have been discharged from area hospitals. The ODH suggests that anyone with questions about a particular facility should call the facility and ask questions — such as what the facility is doing to protect residents from the virus and what steps the facility takes when someone exhibits signs consistent with having the virus.

Laura Fauss, public information officer for the Columbiana County Health District, said Thursday the county has had seven confirmed COVID-19 test results from nursing homes, but she did not know how many facilities have one or names of any facilities.

She said she was surprised when she saw the list Thursday morning did not mention Columbiana County, but believes that happened because there are some time lags in obtaining the information.

Windsor House CEO John Masternick released information Monday about four of his company’s facilities that have had someone test positive for COVID-19. Those four were on the state list as well.

He detailed the procedures the company followed after learning of people testing positive, such as having staff screened for symptoms.

“Windsor House, Inc. is working with the local health departments, Ohio Department of Health and the Centers for Disease and Control, and is taking the most aggressive steps available to stop the spread of COVID-19 and provide treatment for residents that have either tested positive for COVID-19 or are symptomatic,” Masternick stated.

“These outbreaks have been extremely challenging for our staff, residents and family members, and I would like to express my personal condolences to all family members that have lost a loved one to COVID-19,” he said.

NO CONTACT

A family member of a resident in a Boardman nursing home with cases on the list described the difficulty of having any contact with the resident since March 12.

“They are confined to their room. They are not having group dining. They are not having activities. They do it over the public address system. So basicallly it’s like being in a (jail) cell, more or less.”

The family member said communications are limited for patients who do not have their own cellphone. “Most of the residents do not have their own cellphone.” The resident formerly went to the nurse’s station to call her relative, but that has been eliminated to avoid having to clean the phones and to avoid residents leaving their room.

The resident and relative have not talked to each other or seen each other for about 10 days. The relative does not know if the resident would be able to use a cellphone if the resident had one.

“It’s a tough situation for everybody — front line employees, residents, families,” said the family member, whose relative has not tested positive for COVID-19.

The family member realizes the elderly are prone to being infected.

“On the other hand, visitation has been limited from personal family and visitors for over a month, yet there has been cases of COVID, and the only source probably would have been from employees bringing it in to the facility.

“How do you prevent that or completely prevent that, I don’t know, but it’s disappointing to hear that,” the family member said, adding that the number of cases the facility told the family member is not the same number being reported by the state.

erunyan@tribtoday.com