Johnson County nursing facility now has 68 COVID-19 cases and 10 deaths
A Prairie Village long-term care facility that has been battling COVID-19 for weeks has 11 more cases and one additional death.
Brighton Gardens now has reported 68 cases of the virus and 10 deaths, according to information updated Friday morning by the Johnson County Department of Health and Environment. The data does not break down the numbers by residents and staff. Three tests are pending.
Two weeks ago, the county health department first identified facilities that have reported COVID-19. At that time, the Prairie Village facility had 21 cases and three deaths.
Six days later, on April 30, cases at Brighton Gardens had jumped to 32 and deaths had climbed to six.
At that time, Health Director Sanmi Areola said his department gave the facility 230 kits that would allow officials to test every resident and staff member.
On Friday, Areola said in an email that “of course, with more testings more cases were identified.”
The plan has been to separate residents who had tested positive from those who had not in order to contain the virus.
Areola said his department met with Brighton Gardens management and medical directors and have provided education on improved infection prevent. That continues through phone calls and visits to the facility.
The health department also will provide additional testing supplies so residents and staff who were negative the first time around will be retested next week.
At least 15 long-term care facilities in Johnson County have reported COVID-19 cases. As of Friday, those facilities accounted for 35 deaths, which is more than 70 percent of the county’s total.
This story was originally published May 8, 2020 at 1:15 PM.
