The 22 residents, with an average age of 88, make up part of the 324-strong death toll in Luxembourg's care and retirement homes since the pandemic was declared a year ago. The most recent outbreak occurred in spite of regular visits from the large-scale testing teams, explained Cahen, who revealed mobile test units had visited the home on a monthly basis prior to the first patient testing positive on 17 February. Residents and staff will now be tested on a fortnightly basis.
Cahen also revealed that several other small clusters had been detected in retirement homes around the country. The affected structures are located in Erpeldange near Ettelbruck, Bofferdange, Rodange, Schifflange and Redange.
In Niederkorn, meanwhile, there are still 10 positive cases at "Um Lauterbann", although the majority are asymptomatic. One person is in hospital, while two residents are receiving oxygen treatment.
Raoul Vinandy of Servior explained that 12 of the deceased residents were treated in hospital, while the remainder received medical care at the home itself. The source of the outbreak has not yet been traced, but the first cases identified within the home lived in separate areas of the building. Vinandy said management had reacted immediately following the first positive result, implementing isolation and quarantine procedures in line with government advice, but by that point, the virus was already prevalent within the home.
Dr. Jean-Claude Schmit, director at the Luxembourg Health Directorate, said a number of the patients in question had suffered from existing health issues. He added that it was feasible that several of them had experienced a second infection after picking the virus up during Luxembourg's first wave.
In terms of the outbreak's source, Dr Schmit said retirement homes were not prisons, and that the virus could have been picked up at any stage, as residents were free to mingle or leave the home for appointments when required. He attributed the virulence of the outbreak to the new variant, which is noticeably more transmissible and can have more severe effects on patients.
Above all, Dr Schmit wished to underline that the outbreak was not related to the vaccine rollout, which commenced at "Um Lauterbann" on 18 February. He explained that it was necessary to wait a period of some weeks following the jab to develop immunity and that it had been a case of unfortunate timing.
Cahen concluded that over 100 of the residents at the home had now received their second jab, with the remainder due to be fully vaccinated by the end of the week, provided they no longer tested positive for the virus.
Press conference with Corinne Cahen on infection clusters
Worries over lack of PPE for staff in retirement and care homes
