3 dead, 142 residents and staff infected amid COVID-19 outbreak at KC nursing home
Three people have died and more than 140 residents and staff members have been infected during a coronavirus outbreak at a Northland nursing facility.
At Garden Valley Healthcare Center, a 156-bed facility in Kansas City, 98 residents and 44 employees have tested positive for COVID-19 as of Tuesday night, according to the Kansas City Health Department.
State officials have been monitoring the outbreak, which began about Sept. 15 and “has multiplied to this count,” said Michelle Pekarsky, a spokesperson for the health department.
The state, she said, has required regular testing and infection control measures.
News of the outbreak came Wednesday as the Kansas City metro area added more than 375 new COVID-19 cases and 10 deaths. In total, the virus has infected 47,657 people and killed 690 to date across the region.
The outbreak also comes as the United States — which has recorded more than 8.3 million infections and 221,000 deaths — is entering a “third wave” of the pandemic, doctors say.
Nursing homes and long-term care facilities remain a concern for public health officials. The New York Times reports that more than 35% of virus-related deaths have been tied to such facilities.
Earlier this week, officials in Norton County in northwest Kansas said 10 residents have died and another 52 have tested positive for the virus. An undisclosed number of staff also became infected.
The Star’s Cortlynn Stark contributed to this report.
