BURLINGTON, N.C. — An Alamance County rehabilitation center's coronavirus outbreak has grown to become the largest in the state.
As of Tuesday, Alamance Health Care Center in Burlington has the largest active living facility outbreak in North Carolina.
The center has now seen 184 cases, 117 of those cases were residents and 67 were staff members. The outbreak has killed nine people.
This isn't the first time the outbreak has made headlines. Earlier this month, it became the largest outbreak at a living facility on record in the Triad.
The facility sent the following statement to WFMY News 2 Wednesday:
"As we progress through this public health crisis, the positivity rate in Alamance County has continuously increased in recent weeks. According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services, the Alamance County prevalence rate increased from 4.9% at the end of September to 7% in the most recent report. With community prevalence known to be highly correlated with outbreaks in skilled nursing facilities, our center positivity has followed this trend.
"We are currently treating 33 patients who have tested positive for the virus. The vast majority of these patients have remained asymptomatic as we progress through the “recovery” phase of our outbreak.
"It is important to keep in mind that as difficult as this virus is to treat in some instances, the vast majority of individuals who test positive ultimately recover. The same has been true in our center. In total, we have had 74 patients and 45 staff members recover from the virus. These recoveries are a testament to the high-quality treatment and care that our nursing team provides every day. Despite the challenges we’ve faced, we have never wavered in our commitment to our patients’ health and well-being.
"We ask that you please urge the local community to take all recommended precautions and wear masks, as the number one correlation between skilled nursing facilities and COVID-19 outbreaks is the level of community prevalence. Our center is committed to doing everything in our power to protect our patients and staff, but we need the local community to help bolster our efforts by decreasing community spread."
As a reminder, an outbreak has been defined by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services as two or more cases in one location.
The second-largest active outbreak is currently in Cleveland County, with 178 cases.