Mercy Living Center In Tupper Lake (Enterprise file photo)

A resident of the Mercy Living Center in Tupper Lake tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday, but a follow-up test on Wednesday showed that same person to be negative.

Adirondack Health, the organization that oversees the nursing home and rehabilitation center, alerted the families of nursing home residents that a person at the facility had tested positive on Tuesday. As required by the state Department of Health, all residents of the nursing home were then tested for COVID-19.

Two of about 60 test results were still pending as of Wednesday evening, but each of the results so far have come back negative, including the result of the resident who initially tested positive and that person’s roommate, according to Adirondack Health spokesman Matt Scollin.

“There’s a tremendous sense of relief that there’s this negative test result,” Scollin said.

Both the resident and their roommate have been fully vaccinated for two weeks, and neither has experienced any symptoms of COVID-19. Regardless, both the resident and their roommate will be isolated from one another and other residents of the home for the next 14 days, according to Scollin. Mercy residents will all be tested again to ensure everyone is negative.

“We want to do what we can to make sure we’re right about this,” Scollin said.

Mercy has yet to have a positive case of COVID-19 in a resident, although a couple of its staff members have tested positive over the past year. Older people tend to be more susceptible to the coronavirus, and outbreaks in other North Country nursing homes and assisted living centers have resulted in multiple deaths.