ELM GROVE, Wisconsin (AP) – Eight nuns living in a nursing home for sisters in Milwaukee, on the outskirts, died of COVID-19 complications last week, including four who died the same day, a smile a reminder of how quickly the virus appeared can spread in congregated life situations, even when precautions are taken.
Notre Dame of Elm Grove had been free of the virus for the past nine months, but the congregation that runs the house discovered on Thanksgiving that one of the approximately 100 sisters living there had tested positive. Despite the social distancing and other mitigation efforts that already existed, several positive tests were followed, said Sister Debra Marie Sciano, the provincial leader of School Sisters in the Central Pacific province of Notre Dame.
The first death occurred last week and announcements of the death kept coming. Four of the eight nuns died on Monday alone, a difficult situation for the other sisters in the household and members of the larger congregation, who are considered relatives.
“Even though they’re older and most of the sisters who went to God come in the 80s, 90s … we didn’t expect them to go that fast,” Sciano said. “So it was very difficult for us.”
Sciano said the congregation isolated sisters who tested positive in the same area so they would have no contact with other people. It is recommended that they stay in the rooms, where meals are brought. Funerals and memorial services are being broadcast on CCTV. Sciano declined to say how many other sisters have tested positive, citing residents’ privacy.
The outbreak comes months after similar houses reported several deaths from coronavirus. On July 1st 3 nuns died in a convent near Detroit and seven died in a center for the Maryknoll sisters in New York. At least six nuns also died at the Convent of Our Lady of the Angels in Greenfield, Wisconsin, a home that provides memorial care to the nuns of the St. Francis School Sisters and the Notre Dame School Sisters.
Earlier this month, church authorities said 76 Catholic nuns tested positive for COVID-19 after an outbreak at a Franciscan convent in northwestern Germany, which forced health authorities to put the whole monastery in quarantine.
Sciano said Our Lady of the Angels in Greenfield has not had additional positive cases for many months and the facility still does not allow visitors.
Deena Swank, communications director for the Felecian Sisters of North America, who lost 13 sisters (about one-fifth of the population of the Livonia, Michigan convent), said they have had no additional deaths and wish vaccinate the sisters when possible.
Sciano said he is unaware that anyone in the Notre Dame of Elm Grove house is on a list of vaccine priorities, but administrators are contacting local pharmacies to try to line up vaccines for the future.
Convents share some of the same problems as nursing homes, which are the sector most affected in the United States in terms of deaths from COVID-19. In many cases, their populations are elderly and they live very close by.
Linda Wickstrom, a spokeswoman for the Waukesha County Department of Health and Human Services, said county disease researchers have been working with the facility since the Notre Dame school sisters contacted them in November.
“Given the extreme contagiousness of this virus, it is extremely important that congregation parameters practice basic protocols to stop the spread of the disease,” Wickstrom said. She said the Notre Dame School Sisters have been disinfecting high-touch surfaces, washing their hands frequently, socially distancing themselves, and wearing appropriate facial coatings. Sciano said all residents with the virus have been isolated and visitors are not allowed.
The Notre Dame School Sisters established the Notre Dame of Elm Grove house in 1859 to provide an orphanage for children in the area. It later became a home for older and sick sisters, according to her website.
The first death of COVID-19 at the facility happened on December 9, when sisters Rose M. Feess and Mary Elva Wiesner died. Sister Dorothy MacIntyre died Dec. 11 and Sister Mary Alexius Portz died Sunday, according to the congregation’s website. Sisters Cynthia Borman, Joan Emily Kaul, Lillia Langreck and Michael Marie Laux died Monday.
Sciano said all women worked as educators. Some were missionaries. Some were musicians. Some worked on issues of peace and justice. One was a published poet. According to the congregation’s website, one was a teacher and director who loved working in the summers on an American Indian reservation in South Dakota. Another taught in Catholic elementary schools for more than 40 years and worked part-time as a gift shop coordinator at the Elm Grove home.
“We believe that each of these sisters and all the sisters have made a difference in this world,” Sciano said, adding, “I think it’s important for people to know that and to be committed to the end of their lives. “.
He said he hopes others can learn from the sisters’ lives and continue their mission of “maybe making this world a little better place thanks to them.”
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Forliti reported from Minneapolis; Crawford reported from Chicago.