On Wednesday, the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) reported an additional 55 cases of COVID-19 in Polk County. A social media post by Representative Deb Kiel on a KROX story Wednesday read, “Outbreak in Nursing homes is part of the increase, and they have been diligent in protecting the residents and staff.”
KROX spoke with Kiel and Senator Mark Johnson about the outbreak occurring in Polk County nursing homes. Kiel indicated that several northwestern Minnesota nursing homes are currently dealing with some form of COVID-19 including a larger outbreaking affecting approximately 14 residents and 11 staff in McIntosh. “We have seven in the northwest area that have some sort of outbreak, it might be minor,” said Kiel. “We have one that has over 14 residents now. The hard part is the staff has also tested positive. Not everyone has any symptoms, but we need to really work at making sure that they have what they need to be able to take care of residents. They are working very hard. I have to commend the director and all the staff for how hard they are working to make sure that they are taking care of these residents. I would encourage everyone to be careful. Don’t be visiting family members at this point. I believe that they have a stop on resident visits, but we need to make sure we take care of everyone.”
However, Kiel indicated that the first case had been identified last week and there had been a bulk of positive tests over the weekend. “It started on the 19th of October,” said Kiel. “Another case was the 20th, and then, all of a sudden, over the weekend was the bulk of the residents that have gotten sick. They are making sure they are following all the practices. Senator Johnson and I have contacted the Department of Health and have worked with them for the last three days on how we can get staff. Kudos to Sarah (Polk County Public Health Director Sarah Reese) and her team. They are stepping in to help staff there so that they have some immediate help. State Emergency Operations are stepping up and reviewing today to get them help.”
Polk County Public Health Director Sarah Reese said Wednesday evening that there were multiple outbreaks at long-term care facilities in the county resulting in a staff shortage. “We have been notified of outbreaks happening in a couple of long-term care facilities in our county that is resulting in a staff shortage,” said Reese. “The past couple of days we have been working with regional, state, and now federal resources to try to meet those staffing needs. Unfortunately, we’ve been experiencing some challenges with all of the options that we’ve been exploring. Nonetheless, we have continued to explore our options and are working toward getting staff secured whether it’s our office assisting or other external resources that are available. We are working really diligently to ensure the same level of care for residents as well as recognizing that staff is at a crisis level in some situations.”
Reese was assisting at one of the facilities but said she wouldn’t confirm which facility had the larger outbreak. “For more detailed information about the specific facilities you would need to utilize the MDH website which identifies the facilities,” said Reese. “Or else contact the facility for additional information about their facility.”
Messages left at McIntosh Senior Living for Administrator Sharlene Knutson were not returned as of Wednesday evening. The MDH Situational Update webpage states the list of congregate care facilities is updated weekly on Fridays. The only Polk County location listed as of Friday, October 23 is Pioneer Memorial Care Center in Erskine which first appeared on the list in May but has had four different outbreaks. Pioneer Memorial Care Center Administrator Lisa Frey said in an email that they recently had two singular cases of COVID-19 and both are resting at home and recovering. There are no cases in the facility at this time. Reese said a few other facilities had reported cases but weren’t suffering critical staff levels at this point.
Reese said a few other facilities had reported cases but weren’t suffering critical staff levels at this point. “There is one facility that I am involved in and assisting them to utilize state and federal resources,” said Reese. “There is a couple of other facilities that have reported a few cases but are not to a crisis staffing level at this point. We are watching that closely and working on logistically identifying backup plans to assist other facilities should we deem that necessary.”
Senator Mark Johnson said talking with MDH, most other facilities are currently stable. “On this particular, case the Minnesota Department of Health says typically on these nursing homes it’s about a seven-day cycle,” said Johnson. “We’re on about day four or five on this cycle right now. Hopefully, with the help that is coming, that will be implemented later today, we’ll see the situation stabilized and be on the recovery route. The issue is, are other facilities going to see this? And, currently, it doesn’t look like it. Most of our facilities are pretty stable at this point. It’s just something we have to watch and monitor to keep ahead of. Our Public Health Director, Sarah Reese has been doing a great job. Sharlene and others have been doing a wonderful job. We’ll just keep an eye on this and make sure we’re ready if another facility runs into the same situation.”
