Farmington Presbyterian Manor employee tests COVID-19 positive

A Farmington Presbyterian Manor direct-resident care employee has tested positive for COVID-19. The employee is quarantined at home.

“Our top priority is the safety of our residents and staff members,” said Jeanne Gerstenkorn, PMMA’s infection preventionist and vice president for health and wellness.

The employee last worked August 14 in the health care center. The employee passed the pre-shift screening and wore personal protective equipment (PPE) as recommended by the CDC. The employee began to feel unwell over the weekend and called in sick on August 17. The employee sought a COVID-19 test and notified their supervisor of the positive test yesterday.

The community acted swiftly to ensure the safety of residents and other staff members by conducting contact tracing. All residents with potential contact have been placed in isolation and are being checked at each shift change for signs of COVID-19 symptoms or fever. Residents were already being checked daily for fever and symptoms of COVID-19. The employees identified through contact tracing have been asked to self-quarantine and removed from the schedule.

The St. Francios County Health Department has been contacted to report the positive case, and all local, state and federal entities have been notified. The health department recommends mass testing at the community later this week.

Families have been called to alert them to the potential exposure. The community will follow any additional guidance from the St. Francois County Health Department and the CDC. The campus will  remain in Phase 1 of its reopening plan, and outdoor visitation will remains on hold due to the increase in COVID-19 cases in our immediate vicinity. Group activities and dining have been suspended.

All staff members 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.

Presbyterian Manor will follow Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines for when COVID-positive employees may return to work. Under the current guidelines, symptomatic employees may return to work when at least 24 hours have passed since resolution of the employee’s fever without the use of fever-reducing medications and the employee’s symptoms have improved and at least 10 days have passed since symptoms first appeared. Asymptomatic positive employees will quarantine for 14 days. Upon the employee’s return to work, we will follow CDC recommendations related to work practices and restrictions.

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