4 more coronavirus deaths reported at Maryland nursing home

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Four additional residents at a Maryland nursing home beleaguered by more than 100 positive cases of COVID-19 have died, local health officials announced.

The Carroll County Health Department said nine people living at Pleasant View Nursing Home in Mount Airy and diagnosed with the new coronavirus had now died as of late Saturday.

Gov. Larry Hogan said late last week the new coronavirus has been confirmed in 60 different nursing homes in the state, with Pleasant View cases marking the most intense cluster.

Maryland health officials reported Sunday more than 65 deaths overall related to COVID-19, or a 25% increase compared to Saturday. There were over 3,600 positive COVID-19 cases in the state, a 15% increase since Saturday.

Seventy-seven of Pleasant View’s 95 residents and 24 staff members have tested positive, according to the Carroll County department’s own tally. Eighteen staff members had tested positive as of late last week.

One Carroll County resident who also has died lived at the Carroll Lutheran Village retirement county in Westminster, the county health department said.

For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough, and the vast majority survive. But for others, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can be more severe, even causing pneumonia or death.

The Baltimore Police Department had to close its Southwest Police District station and send all officers assigned to the station home after a station officer tested positive. The self-quarantine is being performed as a precaution, police Commissioner Michael Harrison announced late Saturday.

The district and all vehicles assigned to the district are being sanitized, while units from other districts will be asked to help maintain coverage in the district’s geographic region.

“Safeguarding the health of the public and our hard working officers will remain our top priority,” Mayor Jack Young said in a joint news release with Harrison. “I am thankful to the men and women of the department, who continue to protect and serve during an extremely difficult time.”

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