CNA Staff, May 1, 2020 / 14:28 pm
Within the past month, a Wisconsin retirement home for religious sisters with dementia has had several sisters die and four staff members test positive.
Our Lady of the Angels Convent in Milwaukee has seen five resident deaths due to the novel coronavirus. In all five cases, the virus was discovered after the time of death.
The five sisters who have died of the virus are Mary Collins, 95; Marie Skender, 83; Mary Sherburne, 99; Annelda Holtkamp, 102; and Bernadette Kelter, 88.
In early April, the home had temporarily stopped testing its residents, who are mostly dementia patients, because the experience was traumatic for them, the New York Times reports. At the time, the only test that was available in the area involved a cotton swab inserted through the nostril into the back of the throat. The test can be painful, and some residents were reportedly combative when it was administered.