First test results from KCK nursing home where coronavirus victim lived are negative
Test results on 38 residents and staff members at the Wyandotte County nursing home at the center of Kansas’ first coronavirus death have come back negative, a facility official said Thursday.
“As of 3 p.m. today (CDT), March 16, no one in our facility has tested positive for COVID-19,” said Rebecca Brennan, executive director of the Life Care Center of Kansas City.
Brennan said in a statement that 30 of the center’s 65 residents and 59 staff members were tested on Friday and Saturday.
“So far, we have gotten results back on six residents and 32 staff members,” she said. “All results have been negative.”
Another 51 tests are pending.
Brennan said while no residents are showing signs of respiratory distress, a few are being isolated in their rooms while awaiting test results.
“No staff are showing signs of respiratory distress, either,” she said, “but any staff member who feels ill is staying home.”
A man in his 70s who died of the coronavirus on Wednesday had been a resident of the Life Care Center of Kansas City. Life Care Centers of America has facilities in 28 states, including seven in Kansas and 10 in Missouri, and owns the nursing home in Kirkland, Washington, that has been a focal point of the deadly virus.
Twenty-nine people associated with Life Care Center of Kirkland have died of the new coronavirus, and more than 30 others have tested positive for the virus at that Washington facility.
Recent government inspection records show the Kansas City, Kansas, nursing home has an overall rating of “much below average,” receiving a score of 1 out of 5 stars.
Life Care Centers of America said on Friday that the man had arrived at the Kansas City, Kansas, nursing facility on Feb. 25. He was transferred there from Providence Medical Center, where he had been treated for undisclosed reasons not related to the coronavirus.
On March 7, the company said, he was taken to a local emergency room for “a medical issue entirely unrelated to symptoms or signs of COVID-19.” He was returned to the nursing home the same day.
But on March 10, the man “became unresponsive in our facility,” the company said, and was rushed to Providence with acute cardiac symptoms and a fever. The company said the man did not exhibit signs or symptoms of a respiratory illness at the time, and he died the next day.
The Wyandotte County nursing facility was notified by state officials at 4:30 p.m. Thursday that a post-mortem test showed the patient had tested positive for the coronavirus.
Providence Medical Center said in a statement last week that it had identified the staff members who came into contact with the patient and was “following all guidelines regarding healthcare work exposure.”
“We extend our deepest condolences to the patient’s family,” the statement said. “At this time, our top priority remains protecting public health and ensuring the safety of our patients, visitors, staff, physicians, volunteers, and community.”
The secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment said the death was the first known case in the state of “local transmission.”
“The person got it in the community from somebody,” said Lee Norman at a media briefing Friday. “Probably from somebody that had visited that patient.”
At a briefing at the Capitol on Monday, Norman said the negative test results were “really terrific news.”
“It’s also a testimony, I will say, given that they had a positive patient there in the skilled nursing facility, that to be negative like that, they had to have been attentive to the principles of infection control,” he said. “And kudos to them. They were very pleased with the information as was Providence Hospital, of course, who was in receipt of the patient who ultimately died.”
Brennan said Monday that the facility continues to work with KDHE and the Unified Government Public Health Department. The center is complying with the new visitation restrictions put in place by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that apply to all nursing homes, she said.
“Our activities department is also making room-to-room visits and supplying residents with activities according to their interests, like puzzles and crossword puzzles, to keep them engaged,” she said. “Spirits are very high.”
The situation has required additional precautions but has not disrupted the facility’s operation, Brennan said, including accepting new patients.
“We will continue to take all appropriate measures to ensure the safety and well-being of our residents, our associates and the community,” she said.
This story was originally published March 16, 2020 at 5:40 PM.
