Second COVID-19 outbreak reported at Colorado Springs nursing home

COLORADO SPRING, Colo. (KRDO) -- 11 residents and five staff members have tested positive for coronavirus at a Colorado Springs nursing home that is set to close down in November.

Laurel Manor Care Center has already lost 14 residents due to the virus after the first outbreak happened in March. That outbreak is still considered active according to the state health department's website.

That brings the total number of confirmed positive cases at the nursing home to 58 since the pandemic began. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment released this information on Wednesday, along with other active outbreaks in Colorado. However, the information was released nearly a week after it was discovered.

Haley Zachary an epidemiologist for El Paso County Public health explains why there are delays when making this information public.

"Typically when that delay happens it's because we are interviewing cases, trying to find out information about where they've been, who they've been in contact with, and if there is a more likely cause of that illness than somewhere other than that business," Zachary said.

But she also says it could be because of where the outbreak happened.

Businesses are required by law to inform the health department if there was an outbreak, but Zachary says there have been some cases where that didn't happen.

"We don't always find out about them," Zachary said. "We certainly do our due diligence."

CDPHE has seen that as well. A spokesperson sent us the following statement:

"We report outbreak data weekly to be both transparent and accurate. Sometimes there may be a delay in getting data from the facility to the local public health agency or from the local public health agency to CDPHE," the statement read.

As for the closing of Laurel Manor Care Center, a spokesperson for the nursing home says they will help residents find a new place to live.