Lyon County Judge-Executive Wade White said he’s hopeful a coronavirus outbreak at a nursing home in his county will soon be under control. River’s Bend Retirement Community in Kuttawa first had a resident test positive for the virus about two weeks ago.
That resident ultimately died.
At least 50 people associated with the retirement community were tested for the virus after the initial positive case. River’s Bend Retirement Community Administrator Stacey Bullock in a statement said three staff members and seven residents currently have the coronavirus. Three of those seven residents are hospitalized and in stable condition.
“The assisted living community at River’s Bend is a non-medical model facility and not intended for this kind of care,” Bullock said. “We continue to search for willing partners to establish an off-site facility in our region to properly treat COVID-positive cases away from healthy residents. Caring for COVID-positive residents in a separate quarantined space would better ensure that more people stay well for the duration of this pandemic.”
Bullock said all residents are isolated in their rooms as a precaution, with the skilled nursing section of the home closed off to the assisted living section. Medical student volunteers provided by the Kentucky Department of Public Health are also helping monitor and take care of coronavirus patients.
White said those volunteers, along with testing capacity and support from the state, have been crucial in preventing the further spread of the virus.
“Maybe we’ll find out that sort of stopped it and is slowly getting us back to everybody being healthy that are still there,” Wade said. “I don't think anything is going to be back to normal for a long time. I think they’re going to be pretending that everybody’s got it.”
