CRANE COUNTY, Texas — UPDATE: County Judge Roy Hodges announced June 1 three more Focus Care residents have died after being diagnosed with COVID-19.
This brings the total number of deaths related to the nursing home breakout to five.
He also stated two more people related to the care center were diagnosed with COVID-19.
Hodges says the DSHS and local authorities are still closely monitoring the situation.
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Two residents of Focus Care Center have died after contracting COVID-19.
Crane County Judge Roy Hodges announced the deaths Tuesday on his Facebook page.
Hodges said in his first announcement that another patient has been transported to Odessa Regional Medical Center for treatment.
Crane County sits at 23 reported cases of coronavirus. Only two of those were not connected to the nursing home.
This is the county's first reported deaths from the virus.
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Several residents and employees of Focus Care Center in Crane have tested positive for COVID-19 according to County Judge Roy Hodges.
This comes after a resident tested positive on May 19.
Hodges announced on the county website Friday evening that all employees and residents of the nursing facility had been tested.
Of those tested, five employees and 16 residents tested positive for COVID-19.
One of the employees is out of Fort Stockton while another is from Odessa. The Odessa employee tested positive for the virus.
Judge Hodges confirmed for NewsWest 9 that one of the employees that tested positive was a senior at Crane High School. This is part of the reason why the high school graduation ceremony has been postponed.
Officials said the graduation was postponed after the threat of the virus in the community was deemed too high.
Of the five residents tested, one came back negative while the other four came back positive.
It is unclear at this time if the four positives include the previously diagnosed resident from May 19.
Hodges says 76 more residents will be tested Friday with the help of the Odessa Fire Department and Crane Memorial Hospital. This should ensure everyone at the center has been tested.
The county judge said he would release more information when it becomes available and encouraged everyone to keep practicing social distancing.
Thursday night Hodges had announced a court order keeping people from entering or leaving the facility without proper protective equipment until the place could be inspected thoroughly.
Viewers tell us the Hodges rescinded the court order that same evening.
Additionally, many nursing homes have been the source of major outbreaks in the United States. Many of the cases reported out of Midland County have been tied to the Midland Medical Lodge.
Prior to this nursing home outbreak, Crane had reported only two cases of COVID-19, and had no reported active cases for quite some time.
UPDATE: Comments from Judge Hodges
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