An employee at a senior care home for people with dementia has tested positive for the new coronavirus, managers said Thursday, raising the number of elder care homes in Oregon with infected employees or residents to four.

The person works at Maryville Memory Care in Beaverton and does not provide direct care to residents, said Stacy Kean, a spokeswoman for Sisters of St. Mary of Oregon Ministries.

Staff members are paying close attention to possible symptoms among the 15 residents who currently live at the memory care center, Kean said, as well as possible symptoms among the 128 residents at a nursing home that is part of the complex and the 250 people who work in both.

As of Wednesday, two workers at the nursing home were being tested for the virus, Kean said.

For now, no residents are going to get tested, she said. If someone at either the memory care or nursing home gets sick, Kean said the home will consult with the person’s doctor, who will then decide if the resident should get tested.

The other senior care facilities in Oregon with coronavirus cases are the state veterans nursing home in Lebanon and assisted living homes in Milwaukie and unincorporated Washington County.

Group dining and activities were canceled in both the Maryville nursing home and memory care home before the employee got tested, Kean said, and caregivers have been doing their best to keep residents occupied and entertained.

But it can be a challenge because once a person has a deck of cards or some other such object, it must stay with them to ensure an infection doesn’t spread to other residents.

People in the community have been exceedingly generous, Kean said, donating cleaning supplies, like Clorox wipes, and home-made protective equipment, such as gowns and masks.

The residents at the memory care have also had live entertainment, with a youth bagpipe group marching around the building Saturday. The residents watched through their windows, Kean said.

“It was really heartwarming to see the kids do that,” she said. “And to also see the reaction of the residents clapping from the other side of the window.”

-- Fedor Zarkhin

fzarkhin@oregonian.com

desk: 503-294-7674|cell: 971-373-2905|@fedorzarkhin

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