EDITOR’S NOTE: This is a 12-week series highlighting fire chiefs in Wetzel and Tyler County. For the Myers family, firefighting is a family affair. New Mar
It was a somber scene March 16, 2020, at the Beaver County Courthouse.
Earlier in the day, county officials had received word that the first case of COVID-19 had been detected in Beaver County. That weekend, Allegheny County officials had begun ordering business closures and restricting gatherings, but county officials were initially having none of that.
The tone changed after word came that an Aliquippa School District employee had tested positive for the novel coronavirus. The board of commissioners, along with the head of Beaver County Emergency Services Eric Brewer, addressed the county, declared a state of emergency in the county and begged residents to take the pandemic seriously.
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BRIGHTON TWP. – Beaver County s largest nursing home is the focus of a grand jury investigation.
According to federal court documents, a grand jury has been convened to investigate Brighton Rehabilitation and Wellness Center and its owner, Comprehensive Healthcare Management Services. This week, the Pennsylvania Department of Aging filed a motion to quash a subpoena served on the Beaver County Office of Aging to produce documents regarding complaints or investigations into the nursing home or testify in front of a grand jury.
Brighton Rehab was the site of the state s largest outbreak of COVID-19 in a nursing home this spring. As of the end of January, 379 residents had tested positive, with 76 dying while being treated for the virus. The facility the former county-owned Friendship Ridge nursing home was the subject of a series of federal search warrants served by FBI agents in September.
Two more personal care homes are among the 11 long-term care facilities reporting cases of COVID-19 in Beaver County.
According to data released Tuesday from the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, Cambridge Village Personal Care Home in Patterson Township and Lakeview Personal Care in South Beaver Township are among the at least six personal care or assisted living facilities to report COVID cases in residents.
As of Monday, there were 1,017 resident cases and 227 staff cases of COVID-19 reported in 16 long-term care facilities in Beaver County since March. That includes 30 new resident cases and three new staff cases recorded in the previous seven days in the National Electronic Disease Surveillance System, or NEDSS, an electronic database that automatically tallies new COVID cases in long-term care facilities. Since March, 195 residents have died from the virus, including six recorded in the past week in NEDSS.