Coronavirus cluster at Clearwater nursing home has 52 confirmed cases, three deaths

Public health officials report that a Wichita-area nursing home coronavirus cluster has led to 52 people being infected and three deaths, while test results on some of the residents are still pending.

The cluster was discovered at Clearwater Nursing Home and Rehabilitation Center two weeks ago when a single resident tested positive. The nursing home is about 16 miles southwest of Wichita.

Since then, 43 of the nursing home’s 53 residents have tested positive for COVID-19 and three have died, Sedgwick County officials said in a Thursday news release.

Nine of the nursing home’s staff members have also tested positive for COVID-19, but the nursing home remains operational, the release said.

The 52 cases associated with the nursing home represent about one-sixth of Sedgwick County’s 316 total coronavirus cases.

Some staff members who have tested positive continue to work in the areas of the nursing home where all of the residents have been infected, so long as they are asymptomatic and wear surgical masks, according to a county document provided to The Eagle.

All of the residents of the nursing home have undergone mandatory testing since the cluster was identified. But the staff has been tested on a voluntary basis.

The daughter of a 92-year-old woman who lives at the Clearwater nursing home told The Eagle that she suspects the virus was introduced at the nursing home by staff.

“How else,” said Dee Hirsch, whose mother lives at the nursing home and tested positive for the coronavirus. “It has been closed to visitors over a month.”

Hirsch has been calling on the Kansas Department of Health and Environment to step in and require testing for the staff, but the state says the investigation is in the county health department’s hands.

Kristi Zears, spokesperson for KDHE, said county health departments are responsible for outbreaks like the one at the Clearwater nursing home.

“KDHE provides support or technical assistance in situations like the (one in Clearwater) on infection prevention and work with the (Local Health Department) if they want to do some kind of expanded testing at the site,” Zears said in an email.

The Clearwater nursing home has a history of hygiene problems and staffing shortages, and was purchased late last year by Cornerstone Healthcare Solutions and Willie Novotny, based in Manhattan.

Cornerstone runs a staffing agency for long-term care facilities throughout the state, Novotny said.

Some of the Clearwater staff members have quit “out of an abundance of caution, or fear,” Novotny said last week. Other employees have been sent home due to testing positive or after experiencing symptoms.

Additional workers have been brought in from other communities and staffing agencies, the release says.

Novotny did not return phone calls Thursday from The Wichita Eagle.

“This is an ongoing situation,” the Thursday statement from the county says. “Facility officials are following recommendations from the Sedgwick County Health Department and KDHE, and are working to contain the spread of the disease in the Center.

“All services continue to be provided to residents within the home,” the county release said. “Staffing levels have increased to handle the additional workload.”

This story was originally published April 23, 2020 at 3:58 PM.