New positive COVID-19 case confirmed, 12 possible positives out of a Young County nursing home

One new COVID-19 case was confirmed in Young County Wednesday night, along with 12 possible positives coming from a Young County nursing home after the Texas National Guard tested residents and staff.

Dr. Pat Martin, Local Health Authority for Young County, posted Wednesday night on Facebook that the results of the National Guard testing resulted in 12 positives at a nursing home.

“I have been informed that there are 12 positive COVID19 nasal swab tests from employees and patients at a local nursing home,” Martin posted. “Tests were performed by the National Guard. The employees and patients were not having any symptoms. The tests are being repeated locally and antibody testing is also being done. All of these people have been quarantined. There have been similar results from National Guard testing at other facilities that have been shown to be incorrect later.”

Martin said that there has been some question about false-positives in relation to the National Guard’s mass testing of nursing homes and that retesting will be done locally, as well as antibody testing.

“I have communicated my concerns over potential possible false positives to the State Health Department. I received an email back from the (Medical) Director of Texas Department of Health who states that over the past 48 hours they have had an unusually high number of positives from the National Guard and they strongly suspect they are false positives. This is being investigated,” Martin posted. “All of our local nursing home cases are being retested. Several already have had antibody tests done and they have all been negative so far. I will update as I have more information. My feeling is that the nursing home cases are unlikely to be real. All precautions will still be taken.”

Martin also added that there is an additional case related to the case that was confirmed Sunday, May 31.

“In addition (there) is one other positive test that came back today from local clinics,” Martin said. “This patient was in contact with the positive patient we had over the weekend. We are monitoring the situation and I will try to get information out as soon as possible. Please be careful and continue social distancing.”

As more information is available on the nursing home cases, The Graham Leader will continue to update this story.