"The Cecil County Health Department has identified a small number of COVID-19 cases in an area nursing home," said the release.

"The staff and management of the facility have been extraordinarily cooperative in working with public health authorities to ensure that residents, as well as staff and their families, are kept as safe as possible. The Cecil County Health Department is working closely with the Maryland Department of Health to provide all necessary support to the facility. In order to maintain patient confidentiality, no additional details will be provided."

The Cecil Whig has been receiving concerned messages about the elderly living in area nursing homes and has been investigating the matter. We are also in contact with county health and government officials and will update this story as we are able.

Governor Larry Hogan toured the state’s field hospital site at the Baltimore Convention Center on Wednesday, April 8, where he announced additional actions to slow the spread of COVID-19, including new strike teams to help nursing home facilities in need of additional support.

Governor Larry Hogan today toured the state’s field hospital site at the Baltimore Convention Center, where he announced additional actions to slow the spread of COVID-19, including new strike teams to help nursing home facilities in need of additional support and a new executive order empowering local health departments to shut down any business, establishment, or construction site it deems unsafe.

“This virus continues to spread in every single jurisdiction in the state, but the concentration of Maryland cases has rapidly intensified particularly in the Baltimore-Washington corridor,” said Hogan.

“Over the past two weeks I have been sounding the alarm with the president, the vice president, members of the president’s task force, and other top administration officials, and I’m pleased to report that we have succeeded in convincing the Trump administration to designate the greater Baltimore-Washington corridor as a priority.”

The teams will be composed of members of the National Guard, representatives of local and state health departments, and EMS clinicians, as well as doctors and nurses from local hospital systems. These strike teams will be activated in response to requests from nursing homes, local health departments, and Maryland Department of Health (MDH) infectious disease experts. There will be three types of teams:

Testing teams, to identify those in close contact with a confirmed case, and collect and send out specimens for the fastest test available.

Assistance teams, to quickly assess the situation on-site, determine equipment and supply needs, and triage residents.

Clinical teams, which will include doctors, nurse practitioners, and registered nurses from major hospital systems, tasked with providing on-site medical triage and stabilizing residents.