2 more deaths linked to coronavirus outbreak at Riverbend in KCK, 119 cases reported
Two more coronavirus deaths have been linked to a large outbreak at a Kansas City, Kansas, nursing and rehabilitation facility, increasing the toll to 27, according to local health officials.
The numbers released Wednesday from the Unified Government Public Health Department also show that two more residents and another staff member from Riverbend Post Acute Rehabilitation have tested positive for COVID-19.
As of Wednesday, 119 positive tests have been linked to Riverbend. Of those cases, 94 are residents, including eight who remain hospitalized, and 25 are staff members.
Riverbend leaders first notified the health department on April 1 that one resident and one employee had tested positive for COVID-19. Since then, the facility has become the site of the largest COVID-19 outbreak in Kansas.
“Based on what we are learning from Riverbend and other COVID-19 outbreaks, local experts continue to work on new guidance for long-term care facilities,” the health department said Wednesday. “We also continue to ramp up testing efforts in our county to better combat the spread of COVID-19 in our community.”
Wyandotte County, where Riverbend is located, has had over 470 cases and 47 deaths as of late Wednesday afternoon, according to the county’s website.
Statewide, at least 2,211 people have tested positive for COVID-19 and 110 have died from the disease, according to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. Kansas saw a significant jump in cases Wednesday as a backlog of reports was delivered from a private laboratory.
