Nine dead, 65 coronavirus infections at N. Brabant care home

Residential care center De Brink in Roosendaal is plagued by the coronavirus. Since the first coronavirus case in the care center on March 30, nine of its 135 elderly residents have died of Covid-19, and 41 residents and 24 employees have tested positive for the virus, director Marjolein de Jong of healthcare institution Groenhuysen confirmed to BN De Stem.

There is a "big problem" in De Brink, De Jong said to the newspaper. "The virus immediately spread throughout the building. The property is very dated, small rooms, small elevators. Keeping one and a half meters apart is practically impossible." She added that 13 residents have also recovered from the disease. Those who still have the virus are being cared for separately by a special team in protective gear, De Jong said.

De Brink is not a nursing home with closed wards. 40 elderly people rent a room and live independently, usually with additional home care. The other residents live in a nursing ward with low indication. In practice it means that most residents still go outside to take a walk and do their shopping. According to De Jong, that is precisely why it is so difficult to keep everyone inside.

"When all [nursing and elderly care] homes were locked down on March 16 and no visitors were allowed to enter, it was difficult to accept for residents. That is easy to understand. They are elderly people who still have reasonable control over their own lives and are difficult to direct. At some point we closed the parking lot at the back of De Brink. But there were still residents who got out," De Jong said.

De Brink is now in complete isolation, with residents obliged to stay in their own rooms. That is causing sadness and frustrations, De Jong said. But the building with all its small rooms is ideal for the virus to spread and residents and employees must be protected.