La Vida Llena announced Tuesday that all of its residents had tested negative for COVID-19 in two consecutive tests and 289 of the 303 employees tested negative.
The remaining 14 employees who had previously tested positive for the disease are awaiting a second negative test to be considered negative.
La Vida Llena, a senior living community in Albuquerque that includes a nursing home, was one of the early places with an outbreak of COVID-19.
In total, 18 residents at La Vida Llena died with COVID-19, each part of the community’s nursing home. La Vida Llena also announced that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services found no deficiencies during a COVID-19 infection prevention and control inspection that took place last week.
“Every recovery from COVID-19 has been good news, just like news of the test results and the excellent inspection,” DeAnn Eaton, the CEO of Haverland Carter Lifestyle Group, which operates La Vida Llena, said in a statement. “But that still doesn’t wipe away everything that has happened over the past seven weeks. Each loss we’ve experienced has added to the urgency we all feel to beat down and defeat this virus.”
Acute care and congregate living facilities, which includes nursing homes, have been a focus for the state’s response to COVID-19 because of the vulnerable communities that reside in such facilities.
So far, including La Vida Llena, the state has identified positive cases in 35 congregate care or acute living facilities, among staff and/or residents.
As of last week, The New York Times reported at least one-third of all deaths took place in long-term care facilities, despite only 11 percent of cases occurring in those locations. The report was based on incomplete data, as not all states provided such information, so the paper said the final count was likely an undercount.
The state has been testing widely at congregate living facilities, including nursing homes, throughout the state.
