A Georgia nursing home where more than 100 residents and dozens of employees have tested positive for COVID-19 this month has been forced to put off its scheduled vaccinations as the infections continue to spread.
Facility officials believe the outbreak began on Thanksgiving Day when a water pipe burst and an outside plumber had to be called in, according to CBS 46.
"We made it all the way to December before we had a major outbreak," Woodstock Nursing and Rehabilitation manager Dianne Patterson told the station. "It was very, very disheartening to be so close to the vaccine."
© Provided by New York Daily NewsMore than 100 residents at the Woodstock Nursing and Rehabilitation Center have tested positive for COVID-19 this month.
More than 100 residents at the Woodstock Nursing and Rehabilitation Center have tested positive for COVID-19 this month.
The nursing home has converted two hallways into COVID units, Patterson told WSB-TV. When that fills up, they'll expand into other areas of the facility.
Woodstock has also temporarily stopped accepting new residents.
"It only takes one for it to spread like wildfire," Patterson told WSB-TV.
Long-term care facilities were among the first groups to begin vaccinations, along with healthcare workers and politicians.
Nursing homes also saw some of the most deadly outbreaks, including epicenters in Washington and New Jersey.
"My fear is that it's going to be one of those stories where people are dying left and right," Lorelei Hoeye, whose mother, Angela Louise Oliver, lives at Woodstock, told WSB-TV. "I'm petrified of a refrigerated truck coming."