Four Newton Presbyterian Manor employees test positive for COVID-19

In ongoing surveillance testing at the community on Monday, October 26, Newton Presbyterian Manor has discovered four essential health care workers who tested positive for COVID-19.

“We continue to work to protect the residents and employees of Newton Presbyterian Manor from COVID-19,” said Jeanne Gerstenkorn, PMMA’s (Presbyterian Manors of Mid-America’s) vice president for health and wellness and infection preventionist.

Two of the employees last worked on Tuesday, October 27. Both employees passed the pre-shift screening and wore personal protective equipment as required, but began to experience signs or symptoms of COVID-19 after their shifts. The other two employees last worked today. Both employees passed pre-shift screening and wore PPE as required. Both employees were immediately notified of their positive results and sent home. All four employees have been instructed to quarantine until cleared to return to work.

These positive cases place in-person visitation, group activities and communal dining on pause at the campus. Families are encouraged to schedule window and virtual visits with their loved ones during this time.

The Harvey County Health Department has been notified and recommends testing all health care residents on Friday, October 30. Four other employees were identified as close contacts and were given rapid point-of-care tests this morning, which were negative. All employees will be tested today in our second round of surveillance testing for this week.

In August, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released guidelines requiring campuses with skilled nursing to regularly test all staff, including agency workers and therapists, for COVID-19 based on their county’s COVID-19 testing positivity rate. In the past two weeks, Harvey County’s positivity rate has increased dramatically. As a result, Newton Presbyterian Manor is testing employees twice a week.

The employees who tested positive will remain in isolation until cleared to return to work by the Health Department. Per CDC and KDHE guidelines, team members may return to work once they have been symptom free for 72 hours without the aid of a fever reducer and demonstrate improvement in respiratory symptoms, and at least 10 days have passed since symptoms first appeared.  Upon their return to work, we will follow CDC recommendations related to work practices and restrictions.

All employees are encouraged to follow CDC guidelines and best practices as these are continually updated. The community regularly reinforces with all staff that an employee should not report to work if he or she is experiencing symptoms of a respiratory illness or not feeling well.

For more information about Newton Presbyterian Manor’s response, go to PMMA’s (Presbyterian Manors of Mid-America’s) website, presbyterianmanors.org/media-room.