The situation is stable: authorities are still fighting the outbreak of the Springfield Center in Monroe. health

Union-Monroe County successfully survived the Covid-19 storm, with a total of 20 positive cases and no deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.

However, it changed on August 18, and three positive cases were detected at the Springfield Center, a skilled nursing facility in Lindside. Despite rapid response by the Center, the Monroe County Department of Health, and state agencies, statistics show that the reality is that what happens when a virus enters a collective environment with a vulnerable population.

On August 18, the Monroe County Health Department posted this message on social media.

“The Monroe County Department of Health has confirmed an outbreak of COVID 19 in a community long-term care facility. One resident and two staff responded positively. Working closely with the facility, We are identifying additional cases and tracking contacts. Health and safety measures are already being implemented by the facility.”

The facility was Springfield, which is also a rehabilitation center.

These first positive tests prompted immediate response by Stonerise Healthcare, the owner of Charleston-based Springfield, testing all residents and staff on the same day. Results began to arrive within 48 hours, and just two days later, on August 20, there were 45 active cases at the center, 18 employees and 27 residents.

As the test continued, the number of positive cases peaked on August 30, with 72 confirmed cases, and 67 cases still active among 43 residents and 29 employees. Three remained hospitalized, and sadly five died.

How the virus first entered the center, and in particular if so many safety protocols were implemented, remains a mystery, as is its rapid spread after entering the facility.

For Larry Pack, CEO of Stonerise, who has several other nursing homes in the state, it was a “blessing” to see these numbers decline over the past week.

“We currently have (as of Friday) 17 positive cases and 13 positive employees residing in the center,” he said, until all were quarantined and negative. He added that he would keep the condition.

Currently, the center has a total of 42 residents and 100 employees.

“We’re down a lot from the outbreak peak,” Puck said. “We are very grateful.”

Long-term care facilities have been on the radar since the beginning of the pandemic for vulnerable populations, and there have been fatal outbreaks around the states and countries, so officials will watch closely and anticipate the worst. And pray for the best.

Pack says Stonerise is ready and ready to go on-site if a positive case is found.

When Puck learns of a positive test, the Center’s priority is to provide the positive resident with appropriate care, including isolation from other residents, a positive case is found and all resident families are found. It was to contact and to determine the extent “immediately” by testing and bringing in the necessary support, including the Monroe County Health Department, of the outbreak.

Not only that, Stonerise already had an outbreak experience and had a team of people ready to go to Monroe County.

The National Guard, the State DHHR, and the Department of Health were also all notified.

“We are on fire, as the Governor (Jim Justice) wants to say,” he said about a quick response. “It really goes pretty fast. Things move fast.”

Puck said everyone has a role, the center is focused on the population, and the health department is focused on employees.

“They’re doing contact tracking,” he said, including trying to determine where in Monroe County it might have spread in the community. “They help communicate with our community. We work hand-in-hand, with arms crossed… we can focus on taking care of patients and do what we can to take care of patients. We will do our best to prevent them from expanding in Monroe County.”

Jim Nelson, CEO of Monroe County Department of Health, said the event is ready there as well.

When “everyone and everyone” is ready to take swift action, they try to protect the population and work with employees who may unknowingly spread the virus to the community and set up a test site in the county. deployed.

But there are lags in the test results, and the two-day delay hinders the process, he adds, and there are so many positive people with no particular symptoms.

“If we noticed that our employees had that too, we asked, “Who did you contact?” He also noted that contact tracking would have to start immediately with a positive test and isolate positive cases from the community. , Said.

It was also set up to provide a large-scale test event to everyone in the county.

Nelson said he immediately contacted Richard Miller, director of the county’s 911 Emergency Center, when it began.

“He quickly put things together and gathered resources so everyone could get the supplies they needed without any problems,” said Nelson, who said the volunteers lined up to coordinate transportation and more. I was there.

He said that all foundation work was underway by the Department of Health before the state had time to respond. “They (the state agency and the National Guard) have put resources into us and reduced personnel.”

“For us, the process was really aware of the (Springfield) employee there,” he said. “We are investigating outbreaks at our facilities, but we are also investigating the overshooting aspects of our employees, indicating who they have contacted.

“But two or three days late, you’re already late,” he said.

Due to the successful implementation of contract tracking, new positive cases were expected to decrease, but the threat remains.

“I don’t think we’re still in the forest,” Nelson said. “When asking about the first level of people doing contact traces, or contact traces (direct contact with positives), they are most likely positives and are contacted to contact for testing. It will be your spike.”

With the second level of contact tracking, more positive results are likely to be found, he said. Because it’s a problem for first-level people who didn’t know they were willing to get in touch with family, church people and others. ..

“Now you’re starting to see a deeper level,” he said. “We have identified almost everyone (who may have been contacted), but someone has forgotten to contact them or is asymptomatic and chose not to test, so contact tracking There are still some who may have missed it.”

These are just a handful of cases that may continue to surface, he said.

Nelson said the community does not always understand how health department employees work or how they endanger themselves.

“Look at the protective clothing they have to work with,” he says, pointing to those who work outside in a departmental drive-in test offered daily in all weathers. “This is ongoing. We haven’t done this yet, and we don’t know how long.”

Puck said the center’s employees, health care workers, and the first responders to deal with this virus were all “heroes.”

In fact, Stonerise is giving employees salary increases and bonuses for hard and risky jobs.

Both Pack and Nelson said the virus had penetrated centrally because it was in the area. As the number of positive cases increases and people travel more, it becomes more difficult to keep the virus away.

“It’s just a community virus,” Puck said. “Our caregivers live in a community.”

Other outsiders also visit the center for the services they need.

However, it has many limitations when compared to other viruses such as influenza.

According to Pack, even with protection protocols in place, the virus still remains a mystery for its entry route, how it originates, and how it is transmitted after infection. “We’re very proud of the infection control process. It’s hard to see us doing more than we already do.”

Because this virus is a new virus, experts are still learning and trying to understand how the virus spreads and why it is often asymptomatic in humans, so the possibility of spread It will be higher.

That’s one of the reasons the test lasted, and another round was tested last week.

“I’ve been testing employees twice a week and residents once a week since the outbreak,” he said, and that will continue until the center is Covid-free.

He said he could use the iPad to talk remotely with his family because no visits were allowed.

“We have a great family,” he said. “They understand what we are doing and why we are doing it.”

Pack said the community has been supporting the center from day one, bringing in food and doing everything it can.

“Collaboration with the community (with the Ministry of Health and other agencies) is key,” he said. “We have both, and we are blessed to be in Monroe County.”

On Friday, the Lindside Church and Peterstown Methodist Church announced that over $2,100 was raised to collaborate with Linda Fox (owner of Peterstown’s hometown restaurant) to serve the center until the end of the month.

But Puck also knows that the coronavirus exists for some time, and the danger will continue, as Nelson said.

“In the end, the virus has no vaccine and will survive until a vaccine is available,” he said, which may mean further outbreaks not only here but around states and countries. ..

The risk and the outbreak at facilities such as Princeton Healthcare Center that killed 21 residents recently led to a continued need for diligence by everyone, the judge said.

“The overwhelming majority (of the dead) came from the community of nursing homes,” he said. “The elderly are the most vulnerable. I call on all West Virginia to understand the effects of the virus…”

By Saturday, Monroe County had a cumulative total of 133 positive cases as of Saturday, about seven times more than it did by August 18.