KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Kansas City, Kansas, rehabilitation facility reported a shocking rise in the number of COVID-19 cases they are dealing with Friday.
According to information released by the Unified Government Public Health Department, 84 patients and eight staff members at the Riverbend Post-Acute Rehabilitation facility have tested positive for coronavirus.
Of those people , four are hospitalized and 10 have died.
On Monday, the facility reported 33 cases and four deaths.
As of Friday at 12:45 p.m., the rehabilitation facility made up for 30 percent of Wyandotte County's COVID-19 cases and 63 percent of the county's deaths from the virus.
According to the health department, most, but not all of the Riverbend residents have been tested.
CLICK TO READ STATEMENT FROM RIVERBEND
Unified Government Chief Medical Officer Dr. Alan Greiner said Friday that epidemiologists with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment have worked with local health department officials to discuss the cluster.
Geiner said that the Riverbend cluster arose because of the close confines of people who had no idea they were infected. The county is working with the facility to find resources to help, but many staff are having to work 16 hours per day.
"The facility is working as hard as they can under the circumstances," Greiner said.
A young woman who has worked there as a certified nurse assistant and doesn't wish to be identified said on Wednesday, April 1, she was informed at a brief staff meeting one her patients became the the first person at the facility to test positive for COVID-19.
As a CNA, she changes, feeds and cares for residents.
That Wednesday, she said she had to look to find personal protective equipment or PPE.
"I feel like the nursing home really didn't provide the proper equipment to keep their employees safe," she said.
The nurse assistant was supposed to pick up another shift on Thursday, April 2, but she decided against it.
With a young child at home, she decided not to pick up any more shifts until the pandemic is under control.
"I didn't want to risk bringing it into my house," she said.
Instead, she decided to self-isolate and discontinue her other job, making lunches for Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools.
The school district declined comment.
Activist Janice Witt says this young woman is one of three people to contact her who both work part-time at Riverbend and make lunches for KCK school children.
"These people are out taking care, they're wiping the butts of the community and that is the truth," Witt said.
So far, the nurse assistant doesn't have COVID-19 symptoms.
A spokeswoman for the Wyandotte County Health Department says that agency's investigation includes tracing people who may have been exposed.
So far, the nurse assistant says the health department hasn't contacted her.
"I want to be tested, just to be on the safe side," she said.
"If she hasn't been called, I would say probably because she's at a lower risk than the people they are calling," said Dr. Sharon Lee.
Lee is currently running a drive-thru COVID-19 testing clinic in the parking lot of the northwest corner of 7th and Southwest Boulevard in KCK.
She says it's very difficult to contain the virus in a residential situation where people are congregating like Riverbend.
Lee also points out Riverbend isn't the only hot spot in KCK.
On Friday, she told three more members of the Miracle Temple Church of God in Christ they tested positive for the virus.
Eight other members have already died.
And Lee says the three new people she's told have already been hospitalized.
The nurse assistant says it's going to be very difficult for Riverbend to stop any further virus spread.
"They probably really don't have enough space to isolate the ones that they have," she said.
A health department spokeswoman says for the smaller number of residents who've tested negative, their families have the option of bringing them home to be quarantined, but not to another facility.
The spokeswoman also says the health department is providing guidance to staff on PPE as well as when employees who are currently under quarantine or isolation are okay to come back to work.
She says Riverbend is currently experiencing low staffing, so the health department is reaching out to the community for volunteer nursing and staffing help.
