New nursing home coronavirus cluster reported at Diversicare of Haysville
Local public health officials report there is a fourth Wichita-area nursing home that is a coronavirus cluster.
Diversicare of Haysville has had 14 residents and eight staff members test positive for COVID-19, the nursing home and the Sedgwick County Health Department announced Wednesday in a joint news release.
“We know that COVID-19 is especially dangerous for older adults and we want to ensure their health and safety,” County Health Director Adrienne Byrne said in a statement. “We are working with Diversicare to contain further spread of COVID-19 at their facility.”
No deaths from COVID-19 have been reported at the facility, a county spokesperson told The Eagle.
The news of the new outbreak — as well as another one at a local business — comes as the Wichita area appears to be experiencing a second wave of coronavirus bigger than the first.
Active cases of COVID-19 in Sedgwick County hit 222 on Wednesday. After previously peaking at 176 on April 29, the county had experienced nearly a month of declines as the economy reopened. But the trend changed in late May, around the same time the governor’s phased-in reopening approach was abandoned.
The percentage of tests that are positive had also been on the decline as testing supplies increased. But that also changed in late May and is back on the rise.
County commission meets
Sedgwick County commissioners took no action to change their everything-open approach to the coronavirus at their meeting Wednesday, despite rising concern expressed by county Health Officer Garold Minns, the dean of the University of Kansas School of Medicine in Wichita.
On Friday, Minns suggested the commission may have been too early to lift restrictions on mass gatherings, pointing to a rising rate of positive tests for the virus and general public inattention to voluntary guidelines.
Commissioners decided to call Minns to a meeting to talk about that.
Rather than focusing on protecting nursing-home residents from the virus, commissioners, who also serve as the county Board of Health, mostly expressed concern that the frail elderly are isolated from family and friends because of the pandemic.
“The lack of family contact is causing mental-health issues for the patients who are in the facilities,” said Commissioner David Dennis. ”I don’t know the solution, I just know this is a significant problem.”
Commissioners directed county staff to work with the care homes to try to find a way to facilitate more contact between residents and the outside world.
Commission Chairman Pete Meitzner said he has been visiting an 89-year-old aunt. While they won’t let him in the building, they roll her outside for the visits.
He suggested maybe the county could encourage other care homes to do the same, and also explore enhancing their technology to make it easier for family to teleconference with confined relatives.
County Manager Tom Stolz acknowledged outdoor meetings could be acceptable as long as the weather’s good, but the COVID-19 pandemic may stretch into the cold weather months.
He said county staff are exploring options for a mobile meeting pod that could be taken around to nursing homes so residents could meet face-to-face with family members in a sheltered environment.
County health officials recommend that any long-term care facility with a positive case of COVID-19 isolate any symptomatic people, test all residents and staff and monitor them for symptoms. Visitors should not be allowed, and group activities should be canceled.
The clusters
“Our goal in this situation, as in all others, is the provision of exceptional healthcare,” said Arien Reeves, the Diversicare administrator, in a statement. “Our Center implemented precautionary and preparedness measures early — all in accordance with CMS and CDC guidelines — including strict limitations on visitation.
“Limits on visitation will continue, per guidance from the CDC, and we are working hard to make sure residents can still connect with their loved ones. We are doing everything we can to ensure we stop the spread of this within our center and our community. Our infection control procedures are in compliance with the CDC and KDHE guidance.”
The nursing home is at 215 N. Lamar Ave.
A new cluster at a local business was also reported on Wednesday, according to the county’s online dashboard. A county spokesperson said the new business cluster is contained and there is no risk to the community. No additional information was provided.
There have now been a dozen clusters in Sedgwick County, including outbreaks at four long-term care facilities, four businesses, three religious institutions and one correctional facility. Clusters are responsible for 18 of the 22 coronavirus deaths in the county.
The other nursing homes that have experienced outbreaks of the disease are Clearwater Nursing and Rehabilitation Center at 620 Wood Ave, Chisholm Place at 1859 N. Webb and The Manor Nursing Home at Park West at 505 N. Maize
Statewide, there have been 156 clusters, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment reports. Clusters account for about 52% of all COVID-19 cases and about 70% of all deaths in Kansas.
This story was originally published June 10, 2020 at 3:24 PM.
