This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/07/us/coronavirus-nursing-home.html

The article has changed 31 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 1 Version 2
Nursing Home Hit by Coronavirus Says It Still Lacks Test Kits Nursing Home Hit by Coronavirus Says 70 Workers Are Sick
(about 4 hours later)
SEATTLE — A week after a deadly coronavirus outbreak was reported inside a nursing care facility in the Seattle suburbs, officials from the nursing home said on Saturday that they still do not have access to enough test kits for its remaining residents. SEATTLE — A week after a deadly coronavirus outbreak was reported inside a nursing home in the Seattle suburbs, officials from the long term care center said on Saturday that 70 staff members were out sick with symptoms resembling coronavirus and six residents were also ill.
Tim Killian, a spokesman for Life Care Center of Kirkland, Wash., where 13 residents with the virus have died since last weekend, said that the tests so far provided by health officials were insufficient. The nursing home described a continuing crisis even as a strike team from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, including doctors and nurses, arrived on site to help the facility. A federal strike team of nurses and doctors arrived Saturday to support the staff at the long-term nursing home, Life Care Center of Kirkland, Wash., where officials have announced the deaths of 13 residents and a visitor who were infected with the virus. Tim Killian, a spokesman for the care center, praised the workers who continued to show up even as 70 of the nursing home’s 180 employees have developed symptoms.
The home had received 45 virus testing kits as of Saturday afternoon, Mr. Killian said, which was not enough for the 63 residents still inside Life Care and dozens of staff members who have continued working at the facility through the outbreak. “The amount of work and stress that these staff and employees and caregivers are under is tremendous,” Mr. Killian said. “They truly are heroes.”
“We cannot make any promises that further exposure in the facility is not happening,” Mr. Killian said. Earlier on Saturday, Mr. Killian said that the center was still unable to get all of its staff members tested for coronavirus. The home had received 45 virus testing kits, Mr. Killian said, which was not enough for the 63 remaining residents and dozens of staff members.
Six residents still living inside the facility, where visitors have been restricted from entering, have developed symptoms, he said. And 70 of the facility’s 180 workers have also developed symptoms but are no longer coming to work. Later in the day, Life Care managers said the state had provided additional test kits, enough for all of the residents. It was not clear whether there were also enough kits to test staff members.
Leaders including Vice President Mike Pence and Dow Constantine, the King County executive, have vowed to bring extraordinary government resources to help the facility in recent days, as illnesses and deaths were reported. The center has been associated with at least 44 cases of coronavirus and the deaths of the 13 residents as well as one visitor — accounting for most of the deaths from the virus in the United States. Mr. Killian said that six of the residents who were still living at the center, where visitors have been restricted from entering, had developed symptoms.
Federal and state guidance over who may be tested for the virus has expanded in recent days, though much uncertainty remains about who will be tested. Washington State’s health department has said that there are no restrictions on who can get tested but it also has said that not everyone needs it. Officials from the state’s health department and the federal Department of Health and Human Services did not immediately return messages seeking comment Saturday. “We cannot make any promises that further exposure in the facility is not happening,” he continued.
Officials identified the coronavirus outbreak at the facility a week ago, though testing has since revealed that a patient who went to the hospital earlier was also infected, Mr. Killian said. A number of officials, including Vice President Mike Pence and Dow Constantine, the King County executive, have vowed in recent days to bring in extraordinary government resources to help the nursing home as new illnesses and deaths have been reported. The center has been associated with at least 44 cases of coronavirus and has been the scene of infection for most of the deaths from the virus in the United States.
Federal and state guidance on who may be tested for the virus has expanded in recent days, though much uncertainty remains. Washington State health officials have said that there are no restrictions on who can get tested but they also have said that not everyone needs it.
The coronavirus outbreak was identified at the Kirkland center a week ago, though testing has since revealed that a patient who went to the hospital earlier was also infected, Mr. Killian said.
“Within our population, we have seen some results that have frankly concerned us with how quickly symptoms have shown, become acute and led to even death,” Mr. Killian said.“Within our population, we have seen some results that have frankly concerned us with how quickly symptoms have shown, become acute and led to even death,” Mr. Killian said.
As the crisis unfolded, Mr. Pence visited Washington State and vowed to bring the full resources of the federal government to help, noting, in particular, that he would work to make sure that the Kirkland nursing home and other facilities for older adults around the country were safe. As the crisis unfolded, Mr. Pence visited Washington State and pledged the federal government’s full resources to help, noting, in particular, that he would work to make sure that the Kirkland nursing home and other care centers for older adults around the country were safe.
Mr. Constantine has said that the county, too, would provide extensive support, including looking for ways to get equipment so that residents could be moved out of Life Care into family homes if possible. Mr. Constantine, the King County executive, has said that the county, too, would provide extensive support, including looking for ways to provide equipment to enable residents to move out of Life Care and into family homes when possible.
Along with the test kits, resources in the region have been limited in other ways. Nurses have expressed concern about the availability of protective equipment. On Saturday, blood banks in the Seattle area were strained. The banks rely on donors to supply hospitals, but local leaders have urged people to telecommute and for other groups, like people 60 and older, to stay at home. The Seattle area has been one of the hardest hit in the country, and the test kits have not been the only challenge. Nurses have expressed concern about the availability of protective equipment. Blood banks have been strained.
Curt Bailey, who leads the nonprofit Bloodworks Northwest, said the coronavirus outbreak has led to a confluence of factors unlike anything the organization has ever seen: Businesses, telling employees to work from home, have canceled blood drives; seniors, among the most frequent donors, have been staying home; some people are avoiding group gatherings. Curt Bailey, who leads the nonprofit Bloodworks Northwest, which supplies blood to 90 hospitals in the region, says the coronavirus outbreak has led to a rare confluence of factors that is keeping donors away: Many businesses have told employees to work from home and have canceled blood drives; older peoples, who are among the most frequent blood donors, are particularly at risk from coronavirus and have been staying home; and some people are avoiding any group assembly point.
“It has the potential to become extremely dangerous,” Mr. Bailey said. He encouraged the public to visit donation centers. Mr. Bailey said he has been encouraging people to visit donation centers in order to avert the possibility of a blood shortage.
Mr. Bailey said the nonprofit has tried to keep an overall blood supply that could last about four days, but he worries that the continuing trends could lead to a shortage for a facility that supplies some 90 hospitals in the Pacific Northwest. “It has the potential to become extremely dangerous,” he said.
A national network could help support the supplies in the Northwest, Mr. Bailey said, but as coronavirus spreads, he worries that those other banks will face their own resource strains.
While blood is vital to those needing surgery and those fighting cancer, Mr. Bailey said coronavirus patients themselves who end up in critical care may also need blood support.