Wichita Presbyterian Manor reports COVID-19 testing results
Five residents and three employees have tested positive for COVID-19 at Wichita Presbyterian Manor.
Three assisted living residents tested positive. The residents have been placed in COVID-19 isolation and are being cared for according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) infection control and prevention protocols and physician’s orders. One resident has been released from isolation.
We follow CDC and KDHE guidelines for when the residents may come out of isolation. Under the current guidelines, symptomatic residents may come out of isolation when at least 72 hours have passed since resolution of the resident’s fever without the use of fever-reducing medications and the resident’s symptoms have improved and at least 10 days have passed since symptoms first appeared. If asymptomatic, the residents will remain in isolation for at least 10 days.
Two employees tested positive with rapid point-of-care tests at the campus Monday, December 21, after experiencing symptoms consistent with COVID-19. One employee, who is a non-direct resident care employee, last worked Monday, December 21. The second employee, who is an essential health care worker, last worked Sunday, December 20. Both employees passed pre-shift screening and wore personal protective equipment (PPE) as required.
We tested 197 residents and employees on Monday, December 21. Three essential health care workers tested positive for COVID-19. All three work in assisted living and last worked December 17, December 20 and December 21. All three passed pre-shift screenings and wore PPE as required.
Staff were tested a second time on Tuesday with rapid POC tests. 112 staff were tested and no additional cases were detected.
These new cases bring our total for this week to 12 – seven employees and five residents.
The Sedgwick County Health Department and Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) Epidemiology Hotline have been notified. We will test residents in health care, PATH, and assisted living and all employees Monday, December 28.
We also will continue regular surveillance testing of employees. Based on our county positivity rate for COVID-19 tests, our campus is testing employees twice a week.
The employees are quarantining at home and will not be allowed to work until they meet CDC and KDHE guidelines for when an employee may return to work. Under the current guidelines, symptomatic employees may return to work when at least 72 hours have passed since resolution of the employee’s fever without the use of fever-reducing medications and the employee’s symptoms have improved and at least 10 days have passed since symptoms first appeared. Asymptomatic positive employees will quarantine for at least 10 days. Upon the employee’s return to work, we will follow CDC recommendations related to work practices and restrictions.
All residents and 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.
As the COVID-19 vaccine becomes available, it should play an instrumental role in eventually moving toward resuming our normal operations. Every person who receives the vaccine will strengthen the protection for all residents, staff and the community at-large. PMMA strongly encourages our families, employees and residents to carefully consider obtaining a vaccine for themselves as well as their loved ones.
For more information about Wichita Presbyterian Manor’s response, go to PMMA’s (Presbyterian Manors of Mid-America’s) website, presbyterianmanors.org/media-room.
