Three Rivers Nursing Home in Norwich.

State leaders signed an order on Wednesday that will shut down the Three Rivers Nursing Home in Norwich.

In a statement on Wednesday, the JACC Health Center of Norwich, which operates Three Rivers Health Care, said "This is a challenging time for Three Rivers Health Care, our residents and our staff.

Since the initial COVID outbreak, we have been cooperating with the State Department of Public Health to bring our facility into full compliance with state and federal regulations, including the engagement of a Temporary Manager to oversee the facility.

Following an initial assessment, the Temporary Manager concluded that bringing the facility back into substantial compliance within the timeframe mandated by regulatory bodies was not feasible due to a number of concerns, including the absence of critical staff.

Citing the Temporary Manager’s assessment, the Commissioner of Public Health has ordered that all residents be transferred to other facilities that can safely meet their needs.

This comes after the state’s Department of Public Health released findings last month from an investigation into an outbreak of COVID-19 at the facility.

of Public Health had announced the issuance of a statement of deficiency for the Three Rivers Nursing home last month.

Since July 24, DPH officials said at least 22 residents and six staff members at the nursing home became infected with COVID-19.

I know the state has been investigating various nursing homes across Connecticut for months now, and it is my hope that we will not see a repeat anywhere of the lax infection control procedures, the understaffing and the lack of staff training like we have seen at Three Rivers.

17, which included daily visits, reviews of facility records, and interviews with multiple residents and staff at the facility.

The SEUI1199 union also released a statement saying "We are extremely disappointed that the Department of Public Health was not able to step in earlier and do better to fix the problems observed at Three Rivers in Norwich.

After nearly six months working with COVID-19 in Connecticut’s nursing homes, and after thousands of residents have passed away, Three Rivers is another example of DPH’s failure to hold nursing homes accountable.

Today’s announcement also means that dozens of frontline workers who were brave enough to keep showing up daily at Three Rivers to care for residents may face job loss.

While action needs to be taken, we believe there were alternative measures available that would have ensured the safety of the residents and provide for a pathway for the nursing home to fall back in compliance under a new administration.".