GASTONIA, N.C. — A Gaston County woman is thankful she avoided contracting COVID-19 after undergoing major surgery during the pandemic and staying at a nursing home that's since become the site of an outbreak.
In late-May, Patricia Moorman had triple bypass surgery at CaroMont Regional Medical Center in Gastonia.
She credited the hospital's nurses for easing any fears about the coronavirus.
"All the nurses were nice so they made me feel at ease," Moorman said. "We laughed a lot and talked so I tried not to think too much of it."
But she began thinking more about it when doctors transferred her down the road to Brian Center Health and Rehabilitation for two weeks of inpatient rehabilitation.
After one night, she decided to leave the facility and recover at home.
Several weeks after her discharge, Gaston County Department of Health and Human Services confirmed Brian Center had the most COVID-19 cases of any nursing home in the county.
"It's scary, very scary, because you're thinking, 'Well since I had this heart surgery, am I going to catch anything?'" Moorman recalled. "It did scare me a lot, and I thought, you know, I don't want to be in the middle of this."
Brian Center is one of five congregate care facilities in the county with COVID-19 clusters, which the state considers to be at least two positive cases.
Gaston County Public Health Director Steve Eaton said COVID-19's deep community spread contributed to the outbreaks.
"They are doing an outstanding job of doing and taking every protective measure and control measure possible to protect their residents," Eaton said.
In a statement, Brian Center said it's taking several steps to control the virus' spread, including testing people in a timely manner, providing proper PPE and using the latest technology.
