HOULTON, Maine — After previously expressing hopes that Madigan Estates could open back up to the public, the Maine Center for Disease Control said Tuesday it is investigating the retirement community for an outbreak of COVID-19.
“Maine CDC has opened an outbreak investigation associated with Madigan Health Care,” CDC spokesperson Robert Long said on April 13. “As of this morning, five cases had been associated with the outbreak investigation.”
The initial reported case at Madigan had been announced last week, when a staff member who visited out of town returned and tested positive for the virus. While the staff member had not been to work since contracting the virus, they had been in contact with another staff member, prompting a closing of the establishment to visitors.
At the time, Madigan administrator Jim Brown had said that the closing and testing of staff members was being done out of an abundance of caution, and said that Madigan could reopen if there were no further cases.
In a post on Madigan’s Facebook page, Brown announced that one vaccinated resident had tested positive for the virus, as well as an additional unconfirmed positive with a staff member, to bring the total number of cases to five.
“I am [hopeful] that we have isolated those infected and we will not see further spread,” Brown wrote. “All of the staff and residents, except one, work in close proximity to each other and typically do not work in other areas of the facility.”
The Madigan investigation marks the second outbreak in Houlton to be investigated by the Maine CDC in the span of a month. The CDC also had investigated an outbreak that had occurred among inmates and staff at the Aroostook County Jail in Houlton. Combined, 14 positive COVID-19 cases have been reported so far from the two outbreaks.
