4 residents of state veterans home in Minneapolis died of suspected norovirus
Published 9:33 am Friday, March 14, 2014
By Mark Brunswick
Star Tribune
MINNEAPOLIS — Four residents of the state veterans home in Minneapolis died over the weekend from a possible outbreak of a highly contagious foodborne illness that is particularly dangerous to the sick and elderly.
The home has put a hold on new admissions, the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs said in a statement Thursday. In addition, more than a dozen employees reportedly called in sick.
The illnesses are being looked at as a possible outbreak of norovirus. Norovirus causes vomiting, diarrhea and cramps, and each year causes up to 70,000 hospitalizations and 800 deaths, mostly in young children and the elderly.
The 300-bed facility, the largest of five state-operated homes, has been the subject of repeated state and federal investigations and in the past three years there have been four suspicious deaths, including improper drug dosages.
State veterans officials confirmed Thursday that four residents died since the beginning of the outbreak March 7, but the cause remains under investigation because the residents had other health complications. There has also been one confirmed hospitalization because of the virus.
The Minnesota Department of Health said Thursday that the Minneapolis home reported a suspected outbreak of norovirus last week involving eight residents in a 30-person unit and then reported back to say the illnesses included a second unit. It had no information on the number of employees who might have been affected.
The department sent informational materials and testing kits to the home and is in daily contact with officials there.
The Health Department also had no information on the deaths, but spokesman Doug Schultz said it would not be unusual for that information to become available after reports and tests are returned.
The Health Department did not order any quarantines, but Schultz said it is common to limit visitors and restrict movement in units of nursing homes or other similar facilities when an outbreak occurs.
The residents who died have not been identified.
—Distributed by MCT Information Services
