Backup requested for Tippecanoe Villa outbreak

Forty-five of Tippecanoe Villa's 75 residents have tested positive for COVID-19 in a span of less than a month.

More than half of residents at tippecanoe villa have been infected with covid-19 in a matter of weeks.

News 18's joe paul was there today to speak with the villa's director.

He also spoke with the tippecanoe county health department.

He joins us live to share the latest numbers.

Joe?

Tippecanoe villa is a county-owned residential home.

Most of the residents here are elderly, disabled or blind.

And that means they're also at high risk for covid-19 complications.

< "it's been very trying, very stressful."

Forty-five of tippecanoe villa's 75 residents have tested positive for covid-19 in a span of less than three weeks.

And villa director deanna sieber says the spread could get worse before it gets better.

"i think we may still see a few more cases.

Right now we're testing every negative resident every week and we're going to continue to do that until we get two consecutive weeks where we have nobody new testing positive."

Deanna was one of eight villa staff members to also contract the virus.

The facility recently asked for eighty-five- hundred more dollars from the county to hire additional staff.

"what we've asked for more staffing for is to help increase sanitation with positive residents having covid, and then i've had a few staff that have been off with it so they help fill in with it when the staff is off."

Residents have been quarantined in their rooms since the first staff positive test on november 14th.

"they're all getting their meals taken to their rooms, their meds are taken to their rooms, really any of their needs that they have are all being met within thr rooms."

Tippecanoe county health department administrator khala hochstedler says the virus spread through the facility in a two-day period before the lockdown.

"based on contact tracing on the first case, we do believe that it was a staff member that may have spread it during those 48 hours prior to showing symptoms."

Hochstedler says that's a common trend in extended care facilities.

"that is very typical for your extended care and congregated settings that don't have movement outside of the facility, that it is very typical for the staff to initially bring it in."

As we've previously reported, covid-19 cases and deaths continue to rise at nursin homes in tippecanoe county.

The villa is not a nursing home although it faces many of the same challenges when it comes to the spread of the virus.

Reporting in tippecanoe county, joe paul, news 18.

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