Waterford — The new COVID-19 recovery facility at Greentree Manor Nursing Home and Rehabilitation Center is “ready to accept residents now,” according to the State Department of Public Health.

The DPH and Ryders Management, which operates Greentree Manor, outlined what the recovery center will be like this week after announcing the center’s opening last week.

A wing of Greentree Manor is being dedicated to COVID-19 recovery and has demonstrated through on-site inspections they it is operationally separate from the rest of the facility, including but not limited to "separate entrance and exit of staff, dedicated staff, sufficient staffing, sufficient supply of PPE (personal protective equipment), and separate staff break areas,” Maura Fitzgerald, who is handling coronavirus-related inquiries for the DPH, wrote in an email.

Residents are not being displaced unless they choose to be transferred, she added.

Andrea Obston, a public relations representative for Ryders Management, said in a statement that the COVID-19 recovery unit is “separate and self-contained.”

“No Greentree Manor COVID-negative residents will come in contact with these patients,” the statement reads. “Patients and staff who care for them will come and go through a separate entrance. Staff members taking care of these patients will not come in contact with Greentree Manor COVID-negative residents at any time. In addition, the airflow from the COVID Recovery Center unit is separate from other patient areas.”

Obston said the unit intends to start taking referrals the week of Dec. 28.

COVID-19 recovery facilities "are nursing homes designated for the care of individuals who are within the infectious period of their COVID-19 diagnosis and who require nursing home level of care," Fitzgerald wrote. "The average length of stay at a CRF ranges generally between 12 and 15 days."

There are five such facilities in the state; in addition to the one in Waterford, the others are in East Hartford, Meriden, Wallingford and Torrington.

Obston said Ryders Management is honored by the confidence DPH showed in choosing Greentree Manor, which provides long-term care, outpatient rehabilitation, short-term rehabilitation and sub-acute transitional care. The COVID-19 recovery facility will serve southeastern Connecticut and take COVID-19 positive residents from other nursing homes.

State officials introduced such recovery facilities in the spring, during the first wave of the pandemic, intending to free up hospital beds by enabling hospitals to discharge patients who are still positive for the disease but do not need hospital-level care. The approach later was expanded to include COVID-19-positive nursing home residents, helping skilled nursing facilities support infection control practices by cohorting, or grouping, residents appropriately during outbreaks.

The latest nursing home and assisted living facilities data from the state show a current census of 17,804 Connecticut nursing home residents. There have been a reported 11,520 cases of COVID-19 among residents since June 17, and 3,399 people have died. 2,947 nursing home staff have reported positive for COVID-19 in that same time span, and three have died. The coronavirus has spread through multiple Waterford- and New London-area nursing homes since the pandemic began.

Day Staff Writer Brian Hallenbeck contributed to this report.

s.spinella@theday.com