Some two dozen residents and six staff members have tested positive for novel coronavirus at a nursing home north of Seattle, according to local reports.
Testing at the Shuksan Healthcare Center in Bellingham, near the border with Canada, revealed that 24 residents and six staff members had become infected, The Seattle Times reports.
The health department in Whatcom County, where Bellingham is located, said on Saturday that at least two deaths in the county, including a man in his 80s, were associated with the Shuksan outbreak, the newspaper says.
Mark Raaka, Whatcom County Health Department's emergency preparedness specialist, says the department "recognizes the significance and impact of this situation" and is working with the nursing home.
Last month, a coronavirus outbreak swept through the Life Care Center of Kirkland in Kirkland, Wash. As of Wednesday, 35 residents there had died.
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