60 residents of Brewster nursing home test positive for coronavirus

Sixty residents of a Brewster nursing home have tested positive for COVID-19 amid the ongoing pandemic, town officials said.

In a statement, the town said that as of Monday, 60 out of 92 residents of Pleasant Bay Nursing & Rehabilitation Center had tested positive, following three rounds of testing that began April 10. Five residents remain untested, the statement said.

According to the town, the center voluntarily entered a state onsite testing program for nursing homes and long-term care facilities after several residents experienced COVID-19 symptoms.

Brewster public health officials, the statement said, are working closely with the Visiting Nurses Association and state and county agencies to ensure Pleasant Bay’s residents and staff “have access to appropriate care and that precautions are taken to prevent the further spread of COVID-19.”

The town noted that while the state licenses nursing facilities, “Brewster town officials will continue to be engaged in monitoring the response to the cases identified at Pleasant Bay."

Brewster currently has 76 confirmed COVID-19 cases, including the Pleasant Bay cases, according to the statement.

As of Tuesday Massachusetts had 41,119 confirmed COVID-19 cases, and 1,961 deaths, according to the state Department of Public Health.

Massachusetts for the first time Monday released data about the number of cases in specific long-term care facilities. Out of 218 facilities that have at least two positive cases, 78 had more than 30 cases, the state reported. The new state data, however, didn’t list the total number of cases or deaths in long-term care facilities, something it had been doing since earlier this month.

COVID-19′s danger to nursing home residents, especially those with underlying health conditions such as heart or lung disease, was laid bare in late February when the virus ripped through the Life Care Center in Kirkland, Wash., where it’s killed more than 40 residents. Since then, thousands of residents in nursing facilities across the country have succumbed to the respiratory disease, including more than 800 in Massachusetts.

Laura Krantz and Robert Weisman of the Globe Staff contributed to this report.