Arkansas City Presbyterian Manor. (Staff photo by Brady Bauman)
An Arkansas City Presbyterian Manor essential non-direct resident care employee tested positive this week for COVID-19, according to a press release from the senior living community Wednesday evening.
The employee is in isolation and quarantined at home.
“Our top priority is the safety of our residents and staff members,” said Jeanne Gerstenkorn, PMMA’s infection preventionist and vice president for health and wellness.
The employee last worked on June 10.
The employee was sent home after reporting a potential exposure to a COVID-19 positive person through social contact. The employee passed Ark City Presbyterian Manor’s employee screening and was showing no signs or symptoms of COVID-19 at that time.
The employee was tested on June 15 and results were received June 17.
The community is conducting contact tracing for the employee and will follow City-Cowley County Health Department recommendations for testing and quarantining.
Per the Health Department’s recommendation, seven employees identified through contact tracing will be tested.
Before returning to work, the employees must have negative results from an FDA Emergency Use Authorized COVID-19 molecular assay for detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA from at least two consecutive respiratory specimens collected at least 24 hours apart (total of two negative specimens), according to the press release.
Upon their return to work, Presbyterian Manor will follow CDC recommendations related to work practices and restrictions.
Families have been called to alert them to the potential exposure. The CDC has been notified of the positive test per Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services regulation. The community will follow any additional guidance from the City-Cowley County Health Department and the CDC.
On March 13, Ark City Presbyterian Manor implemented a strict no visitor policy at the community and discontinued group activities and communal dining for the entire campus per guidelines released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the CDC.
“We encourage all staff members to follow CDC guidelines and best practices as these are continually updated,” the press release state. “We have been screening employees as they enter the community building for a shift and before employees have any direct contact with residents.
“We educate all staff to stay at home if they are experiencing symptoms of a respiratory illness or not feeling well.”
According to the City-Cowley County Health Departmental website Wednesday, 1,119 people have been tested in the county since a national emergency proclamation was issued by the White House on March 13, and 42 total cases of the virus have been confirmed. Of those cases, 35 are considered active and six people have recovered in the county.
Cowley County has a population of 34,908 people as of July 2019, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Wednesday, however, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment reported 45 cases in Cowley County.
An Ark City man who tested positive April 1 died a week later and remains the only death in the county connected to the virus.
Statewide, KDHE reported Wednesday there are 11,681 positive cases of COVID-19 across Kansas, 1,011 hospitalizations, 247 deaths and 130,433 negative tests.
Since June 1, there has been an increase of 1,670 cases across the state and 30 more people have died.
Kay County, Oklahoma, has recorded 70 cases so far and remains at seven deaths.
