Corona outbreak at nursing centre with at least 20 cases

Thirteen residents and seven employees tested positive for Covid-19. This was after the visiting rules had been relaxed, according to the manager.

Many people are enjoying the days following the easing the corona measures, and thoughts of lockdowns are far away. Not so in the Baar Pflegeheim (nursing centre). For the first time ever, a ban on visitors has been in place there since last Friday. Twenty people - 13 residents and seven staff members - have contracted Covid-19, reported the institution on request. This is indirectly "due to pressure exerted by individual relatives on the Zug Health Directorate, writes the Manager Stephanie Schär.

As a result, the visiting rules were changed from 1 April: from a designated reference person to any person for all 140 residents on a daily basis. "Accordingly, many more contacts with external persons took place," says Stephanie Schär. Up to then, not a single infection had been recorded for more than a year. As a result of the outbreak, no visitors have been allowed since 16 April, with the exception of the close relatives of dying residents.

Photo 1: The Baar Nursing Centre is not currently accessible to anyone
Photo 2: This message hangs on the front door
Photo: Maria Schmid (19 April 2021)

Did the Health Directorate, of all people, push for looser visiting rules and thereby bear a share of responsibility for the heavy Corona outbreak at the Baar nursing centre? On request, the cantonal doctor Rudolf Hauri denies this. "In contrast to the first wave, the health directorate does not, in principle, influence the protection concepts and visiting regulations of nursing homes," he writes.

"Accordingly, the Baar Nursing Centre decided on these relaxations in the visiting rules itself."

The Health Directorate did intervene, however, after this "major outbreak". The closure of the care centre for visitors from 16 April is based on their order.

Further test results are expected on Thursday
The Baar Nursing Centre could soon be open to visitors again, when the tests of all employees and residents, which have been ordered in the meantime, have been evaluated, and this step can be considered as justifiable. The results are expected to be available on Thursday.

Of the 20 positive tests so far, 12 have already received both vaccine doses, according to the Health Directorate. As the cantonal medical service has "previously determined a symptomless or very mild course of the disease", the canton nevertheless considers the vaccinations to be a success: "This confirms that vaccination also protects older people very effectively from the serious consequences of the disease." The other infected persons “didn’t want to be vaccinated, or not yet".