Illnesses prompt quarantine at NE Bend retirement center

Residents of the Aspen Ridge Retirement memory care facility in northeast Bend are under quarantine after seven people came down with a stomach illness in recent days.

Management for the facility said Tuesday the residents are reported to have some type of stomach virus, with symptoms of flu and norovirus.

“When someone says they have the stomach flu, they usually have the norovirus,” Deschutes County Supervisor for Communicable Disease Heather Kaisner said Tuesday.

Deschutes County Public Health confirmed they are working with a facility with residents who might have norovirus, a group of very contagious viruses that can cause acute gastroenteritis. Norovirus causes nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and a fever.

But health officials couldn’t confirm if the facility was Aspen Ridge because of the ongoing investigation.

Management of Aspen Ridge Retirement said they’ve been working around the clock to make sure the memory care facility is clean and are keeping everyone inside their rooms.

They also said they are also making sure residents of the retirement living facility next door do not come in contact with the infected patients.

Officials said they don’t know when the first illness was reported.

According to the Oregon Health Authority, there were 46 cases of norovirus reported at the Aspen Ridge Retirement community back in 2013.

Deschutes County saw about 10 norovirus cases in 2012, but that number dropped to three in 2013 and to one in 2014.

“When norovirus is already at the facility, we do what we can to control the spread,” Kaisner said.