COVID-19 clusters identified in College Hill nursing home, Newton retirement facility
A cluster of COVID-19 cases has been identified at a long-term care facility in east Wichita, Sedgwick County announced Thursday morning. Another cluster has been confirmed by Harvey County officials at a Newton retirement home.
Six residents and two staff have tested positive for the coronavirus in the outbreak at the Legacy on College Hill facility, 5005 E. 21st St. N., according to a written statement issued Thursday morning.
No deaths have occurred and further testing is underway, the Sedgwick County statement said.
This makes the 15th cluster at long-term care facilities reported by the county.
“We are working closely with the Health Department to determine next steps and we are not allowing nonessential individuals into the building at this time,” the company said in the statement. “We appreciate the county’s support and look forward to working together to eradicate the disease within our facility.”
The county is particularly sensitive to clusters in nursing homes because “COVID-19 symptoms can be particularly serious for older adults,” said Sedgwick County Health Director Adrienne Byrne.
The county is recommending that all persons showing COVID-like symptoms be isolated from the rest of the facility and is working with the company to ensure that persons having close contact with the infected individuals are identified and are properly quarantined or isolated, the statement said.
The county is reporting 2,865 active cases of COVID-19 at present and 43 residents have died since the pandemic began.
As of Monday, 72 people were in local hospitals being treated for COVID and 24 were in intensive care. The hospital numbers, reported weekly, have been trending upward consistently since the end of June.
A Harvey County news release identified a cluster of coronavirus disease cases at the Newton Presbyterian Manor retirement facility. Five staff members and one resident have tested positive so far, and all of them are in isolation. There were 185 combined staff and residents tested after one employee was confirmed to have COVID-19.
Clusters are considered active until there have been 28 consecutive days without a positive case. Those four weeks are the length of two incubation periods.
This is the second nursing home cluster in Harvey County. An outbreak was previously confirmed at the Schowalter Villa long-term care facility in Hesston.
Harvey County reports 187 total cases and 34 known active cases as of Thursday. Three patients are hospitalized.
This story was originally published August 6, 2020 at 10:31 AM.
