Quarantine is a scary word.

Miltoria Darden was confronted with that word Wednesday when during a phone call to her mother, Elizabeth Heath, who is a resident at Aldersgate Retirement Community in Meridian, was told the population there was under quarantine because of an illness and death.

“She told me one of the residents was found dead in their apartment and that they couldn’t leave their apartments or accept visitors,” said Darden, who lives in New York. “We became very, very concerned.”

Aldersgate Retirement Community Director Lawona Broadfoot, contacted Wednesday afternoon, said the rumors of the facility being under strict quarantine were highly inaccurate saying that several of the residents woke up Wednesday with a stomach virus and that by no means had anyone died in the community Wednesday.

“We requested the residents stay in their apartments for the day and we’d deliver their meals instead of coming down to the cafeteria and running the chances of spreading the virus,” said Broadfoot. “These were just precautionary measures but there was no quarantine.”

The Meridian facility has 120 apartments.

Camilla Davis of Meridian, said she had talked to her grandmother, a resident of Aldersgate, Wednesday as well and had been told basically the same information.

“She said for us not to come and that they had to stay in their rooms,” said Davis. “She said four or five people were sick although she didn’t say with what.”

Broadfoot said she put out a bulletin for residents to keep visitors down to a minimum and to wash their hands often in order to help insure they didn’t get the virus.

“We told them basically the same things you would tell your loved ones whenever they were in close proximity to someone with this sort of illness,” Broadfoot said.

Broadfoot said two residents have passed away in the past two weeks but both of those instances took place in local hospitals and involved illnesses not related to the stomach virus. Lauderdale County Coroner Clayton Cobler said he had received no word anyone at Aldersgate had died at the community.