PLATTSBURGH — An MHAB Life Skills Campus resident has tested positive for COVID-19, but has not been at the dorm since late last week, MHAB founder Michael Carpenter confirmed Thursday.
Carpenter explained that the resident went to University of Vermont Health Network, Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital for an unrelated procedure, and had been largely asymptomatic of the virus.
"He’s still convalescing either at the hospital or someplace else so he has not been back."
NO OTHER CONCERNS
MHAB — a transitional housing facility for individuals in recovery — worked with the Clinton County Health Department and CVPH to put all necessary procedures in place, Carpenter said.
He added that CCHD told MHAB that at one point, the resident had a very slight fever, but showed no other symptoms of COVID-19.
CCHD conducted contact tracing to determine who the resident had contact with, and all those people were alerted.
"We’re checking in with everybody on a daily basis and so far we’ve had no other concerns at this point," Carpenter said.
"Nobody else is showing symptoms or any reason for us to be alarmed."
RESIDENTS AWARE
In the past, MHAB did have a couple of suspect cases and those individuals were isolated by themselves for the recommended period of time, Carpenter said.
"We’re just trying hard to make sure that it doesn’t spread and the irony of it is our residents are doing great stuff with regards to social distancing and wearing PPE (personal protective equipment) and disinfecting their own place.
So they’re as attuned to it as we are. They don’t want it spreading through their place, obviously."
Carpenter added that CCHD offered to put up the resident in a separate facility if necessary, but he anticipates the man will be able to return with a clean bill of health next week unless he experiences more symptoms.
RESTRICTIONS
MHAB has added some tighter restrictions and provided cloth masks to all residents, and only allows limited on-site interaction, Carpenter said.
"We’re trying to do as much as we can virtually."
He remarked that it has been a tough time for the residents to be isolated from the rest of the world.
"They seem to be working really well together, I guess is the best thing I can say with regards to this."
When MHAB staff check in, they ask both COVID-19 screening questions and simply, "How are you feeling?"
"What we get as a kind of collective answer is they have this low-grade anxiety," Carpenter said.
"It’s like just this uneasy feeling, like probably people who don’t have addiction have, too, when you’re all unsure of where the world is going and that just becomes heightened when you’re somebody who’s dealing with this other issue as well."
TAKING A BACKSEAT
MHAB continues to take applications for new residents; Carpenter said their numbers have increased to the mid-50s.
"We have more residents today than we’ve had at any time since we opened," he said.
"I wouldn’t categorize that as great news. That continues to show us that the problem is there, so it’s concerning."
Echoing previous comments he has made, Carpenter said he thinks addiction recovery and mental health are still taking a backseat to the COVID-19 crisis.
"Alcohol use among the people that have struggled with mental health and addiction issues has become very prevalent in the last few weeks," he said.
"We’ve seen an uptick in that kind of stuff, not necessarily at MHAB, but overall we've seen that and it really just comes down to the fact that isolation is just bad for people that are in recovery."
Carpenter believes the impact will be felt in the coming months.
"There’s going to be a large influx of people who need additional help down the road and I’m pretty concerned that that’s not going to be as well-funded as we’d like it to be."
STEFANIK AGREES
In a conference call with media Thursday, North Country Congresswoman Elise Stefanik said she agreed with Carpenter's concerns and that she was signing on to bipartisan letters requesting increased funding for behavioral health.
"We also think it’s important not only for the general public, but for prioritization for our health care workers and emergency responders, those that are really on the front lines of this crisis," she said.
"There is a very tragic underbelly to this concept of social distancing and staying at home, which is so important for public health."
She noted increases nationally of domestic abuse, child abuse and mental health issues.
"I think this is going to be a national problem and a regional problem and I’m committed to supporting increased funds and resources to make sure that we’re able to meet the need."
Email Cara Chapman:
Twitter: @PPR_carachapman
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