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3 Wichita Presbyterian Manor employees test positive for COVID-19

Wichita Presbyterian Manor learned three employees are positive for COVID-19 during a round of employee surveillance testing Monday, November 2.

“With the positivity rate in Sedgwick County increasing, we remain vigilant in our efforts to keep our residents and employees healthy and safe,” said Jeanne Gerstenkorn, PMMA’s vice president for health and wellness and infection preventionist.

This week, Wichita Presbyterian Manor increased the frequency of surveillance testing to twice a week when the two-week rolling average climbed above 10% in Sedgwick County. The campus is testing employees on Mondays and Wednesdays. The first round of tests was conducted Monday, November 3. From those tests, one non-direct resident care employee and two direct resident care employees have tested positive for COVID-19. There were 157 employees tested on Monday.

The non-direct resident care employee, who is asymptomatic, last worked on Tuesday, November 3. The employee passed pre-shift screening and wore personal protective equipment (PPE) as required.

The first direct resident care employee, who is asymptomatic, last worked November 4 and passed the pre-shift screening. The employee, who was at work at the time the results were received, wore PPE as required.

The second direct resident care employee last worked on October 25, and passed the pre-shift screening. This employee also wore PPE as required.

In addition, 45 health care and Post-Acute-to-Home (PATH) residents were tested due to an exposure to a third-party service provider who tested positive last week. All 45 residents were negative for COVID-19.

Through contact tracing, residents in health care and PATH and 1 additional non-direct employee were identified as possible close contacts with the potential for exposure to the virus. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment defines exposure as being within 6-feet of a COVID-positive person for 10 minutes or longer. The second round of employee surveillance testing was conducted Wednesday, November 4. Those results are pending.

The Sedgwick County Health Department and Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) Epidemiology Hotline have been notified. We plan to test health care and PATH residents again next week due to this exposure.

All employees are encouraged to follow CDC guidelines and best practices as these are continually updated. The community regularly reinforces with all staff that an employee should not report to work if he or she is experiencing symptoms of a respiratory illness or not feeling well.

For more information about Wichita Presbyterian Manor’s response, go to PMMA’s (Presbyterian Manors of Mid-America’s) website, presbyterianmanors.org/media-room.

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