Almost half of St Joseph Home elderly residents test positive for COVID-19

Almost half of the elderly residents at the St Joseph Home in Fgura have tested positive for COVID-19, the management said on Wednesday.

Responding to mounting criticism at the massive outbreak at the home, the management said in a Facebook post that 113 residents from the 278 who currently live in the home (41%) tested positive for COVID-19. The majority of the residents who tested positive are asymptomatic.

There were also 29 staff members who tested positive and another 50 who are in quarantine.

It remains unclear whether any of the recent deaths involved residents at the home, which has by far been the worst hit in the most recent outbreak that saw COVID-19 cases flare up in four homes.

The management said that residents were being separated in clusters to curb the spread of the virus. “Positive cases, negative cases, and persons in quarantine are not in contact with one another,” the home said.

It also reacted to claims that the home did not have doctors on site to oversee the situation.

“We have seven doctors giving us continuous support; four of these are consultants and three of them are general practitioners. All seven are monitoring the situation day and night. Any clinical decision, such as whether a resident should remain at the home, or be transferred to Mater Dei, is made solely by them,” the home said.

It said that all staff members and residents were being swabbed once every three days as part of a containment plan.

The home said it managed to control the situation among its workers.

It added that some people who had tested positive were now testing negative for COVID-19.

No indication was given as to how many people have recovered so far.

Responding to strong criticism from relatives of residents, who publicly complained of not being informed of the state of health of their elderly, the home said it was contacting relatives of residents who tested positive, “immediately” after the results are known.

“With regard to the rest of the families of those residents whose results are negative, we are also in constant contact with all of them, through messages, calls, and e-mails,” the management said.