43 of 55 residents, 15 staff members in Billings care home test positive for COVID-19 - Billings Gazette

Canyon Creek Memory Care Community on Majestic Lane in Billings saw numerous residents and staff members test positive for COVID-19 Tuesday.

At least 43 of the 55 residents of Canyon Creek Memory Care Community in Billings, along with 15 staff members, have tested positive for COVID-19.

Two residents have been hospitalized, RiverStone Health, Yellowstone County's public health agency said Tuesday morning.

Results were still pending Tuesday morning for another nine residents and 15 staff.

The test results were first announced in a press release issued Tuesday morning by Canyon Creek Memory Care Community and its owner Koelsch Communities.

Felton announced Friday that visitation to long-term care facilities in the county would once again be restricted to compassionate end-of-life visits with mandatory mask wearing.

During that press conference, Felton said that Billings had identified about a dozen COVID-19 cases in seven care facilities during the previous week.

Excluding Canyon Creek, six other senior care facilities in Billings have had a total of six residents and four staff members test positive, RiverStone spokesperson Barbara Schneeman told The Gazette by email Tuesday afternoon.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services require senior living facilities to notify all staff, residents and residents' family members of a positive COVID-19 case "within a short time period of learning about a positive test result," Schneeman said by email. .

The county health department said in its press release that it is also working to ensure adequate personal protective equipment is available and being used properly at Canyon Creek.

Residents and their families have been notified, according to the press release from Koelsch Communities and Canyon Creek Memory Care Community.

Bullock said in a press call Tuesday that Canyon Creek had declined to participate in that surveillance testing, and he enacted a rule that requires facilities that allow visitors to participate in testing of residents and employees.

The Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services requires licensed facilities to isolate residents who have tested positive and to quarantine residents at assisted living facilities who have been exposed to COVID-19, even if they have tested negative, according to the Yellowstone County health department.

Canyon Creek Memory Care Community on Majestic Lane in Billings saw numerous residents and staff members test positive for COVID-19 Tuesday