Coronavirus Appears In Framingham Senior Apartment Complex

FRAMINGHAM, MA — Residents of the Shillman House seniors-only complex in Framingham's Nobscot neighborhood were alerted on Friday that a resident had tested positive for the new coronavirus, COVID-19.

The resident has been hospitalized, but the operator of the complex, 2Life Communities, could not provide further details about them. The complex has taken steps to prevent COVID-19, a spokesperson said, like eliminating communal dining and disinfecting common surfaces.

"This is unsettling news for all of us, and our thoughts are with the resident and their family as we continue to do all we can to support them," spokesperson Jan Goldstein wrote in a statement on Friday night.

Senior citizens are thought to be the most at-risk from COVID-19. On Thursday, a Framingham resident in his 80s became the city's first coronavirus fatality. He did have an underlying respiratory condition, city healthy officials said.

At a Revere nursing home, seven people have contracted COVID-19, and one person living there has died. Many senior living centers across the state have put restrictions in place to keep the virus from spreading.

Massachusetts has confirmed 3,240 COVID-19 cases since early March, including 35 deaths. Many of those deaths have been among elderly people with preexisting conditions. Of the 10 deaths announced on Friday, four victims were in their 80s, and another four were in their 90s, health officials said.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, up to 27 percent of COVID-19 fatalities in the U.S. have been in people over age 85. But the next highest group, with fatality rates between 3 and 11 percent, were in people age 65 to 85.

Shillman House, located along Edmands Road, is restricted to people age 62 and up.