FRANKLIN

The Village at Woods Edge, an assisted living and retirement community in Franklin, is the latest long-term care facility in the Virginia Department of Health’s Western Tidewater district to see an outbreak of COVID-19.

The facility, which had disclosed in mid-May that a single resident had contracted the virus, notified health department officials on Tuesday of additional cases. According to a press release that The Village’s executive director, Billie Turner, issued on Friday, one resident and two staff members have tested positive.

The VDH website defines “outbreak” to mean two or more cases when it comes to long-term care facilities.

All three are now in quarantine, and The Village — with the help of the VDH — has secured testing for all residents residing in The Manor Assisted Living at The Village, as well as for specific staff members, Turner said. The Village has also maintained an isolation area within the community since the beginning of the declared pandemic to quickly isolate and provide services to anyone who tests positive for the virus.

“We have emergency preparedness and infection prevention and control plans in place,” Turner said. “We have taken aggressive, proactive infection control measures and screening procedures to best protect all who live and work within our community.”

“We are working collaboratively with the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) and are following the recommended guidance from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC),” she added. “Our dedicated professional Village staff are working tirelessly to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus and provide compassionate support.”

Including The Village, the total number of long-term care facilities in the Western Tidewater Health District reporting COVID-19 outbreaks now stands at six. There is also one correctional facility — Deerfield in Capron — reporting an outbreak, as well as two congregate facilities, which can refer to apartment complexes, places of employment, churches and other group settings.