48 residents, 33 staff members test positive for COVID-19 at Round Rock nursing home

Round Rock care facility latest COVID-19 cluster

A Round Rock care center has confirmed 48 residents and 33 staff have tested positive for COVID19.

AUSTIN, Texas - A Round Rock care center has confirmed 48 residents and 33 staff members have tested positive for COVID-19. The Williamson County Rapid Response Viral Strike team says it is responding to San Gabriel Rehabilitation and Care Center and other COVID-19 nursing home clusters in the area.

“We do have multiple clusters happening right now at facilities,” said Amy Jarosek, team leader for Wilco's Rapid Response Viral Strike Team.

Jarosek says a cluster is defined as one or more residents/staff testing positive for the virus in a care center. San Gabriel Rehabilitation And Care Center in Round Rock released a letter confirming they have 81 cases at their facility.

“[San Gabriel] is one of the ones that we have gone into. We have been in close contact and in a supportive role to that facility,” said Jarosek.

Jarosek says the strike team is made up of 30 members from the Health District, EMS, and the fire department. The team has kept up with all 62 nursing homes, assisted living, and memory care facilities in Wilco.

Governor Abbott signals second shutdown possible if masks aren’t worn

Texas Governor Greg Abbott restated his opposition to shutting down the state again despite the recent surge in cases of COVID-19 but he left open the option.

DOWNLOAD THE FOX 7 AUSTIN NEWS APP

“Every 30 days. Now contacting each facility and following up on their staff and residents for their PPE needs, as well as making sure that they don't have any sick or symptomatic residents or staff that we need to move in and mitigate,” she said.

She says the team gets activated based on the infection control assessment that's done on said care center. The team works as a guide on what to do and as a support system for the staff at the various care centers.

“They are overwhelmed right now. just trying to keep their residents healthy and then mitigating the issue of not being able to have families and loved ones come into those facilities so we want to act in a supporting role to those facilities,” said Jarosek.

SIGN UP FOR FOX 7 AUSTIN EMAIL ALERTS

San Gabriel wrote in their letter that they are still waiting on the test results from July 8th. Results that could potentially bring the positive cases up.

Governor Greg Abbott addressed the delay in nursing home results in a press conference Thursday. “Bottom line is that the turnaround lags that have occurred in some parts of the state of Texas should be a thing of the past sometime soon,” said the governor.

The full letter is available below:

CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST INFO ON THE CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK

---

FOX 7 Austin is working to keep you up to date with coronavirus, with both local and national developments. You can also get the latest COVID-19 news from around the country at coronavirusnow.com.