Crews have arrived to perform a deep-cleaning of the Seattle-area nursing home at the epicenter of one of the biggest coronavirus outbreak in the US, linked to at least 19 deaths and hundreds of infections.
Members of a Servpro clean-up team arrived at Life Care Center in Kirkland, Washington, on Wednesday afternoon wearing white hazardous material suits and respirators, and carrying pressure washers.
The center’s spokesman Tim Killian, told reporters in a news conference on Tuesday that Life Care was receiving an industrial cleaning of all their ‘hard surfaces.’
He said the cleanings will happen within the residents’ rooms, and staff will determine on a case-by-case basis if residents move out or stay in while the cleaning is occurring.
So far, about 50 percent of the facility’s residents, 59 of them, have tested positive for COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the new virus.
Crews have arrived to perform a deep-cleaning of the Seattle-area nursing home at the epicenter of one of the biggest coronavirus outbreak in the US, linked to at least 19 deaths and hundreds of infections. Pictured: Members of a Servpro cleanup crew wearing hazardous material suits prepare to enter Life Care Center in Kirkland, Washington, March 11
Members of a Servpro clean-up team arrived at Life Care Center in Kirkland, Washington, on Wednesday afternoon wearing white hazardous material suits and respirators, and carrying pressure washers (pictured)
Life Care’s spokesman, Tim Killian, told reporters in a news conference on Tuesday that Life Care was receiving an industrial cleaning of all their ‘hard surfaces.’ Pictured: Members of a Servpro cleanup crew wearing hazardous material suits enter Life Care Center, March 11
The cleanings will happen within the residents’ rooms, and staff will determine on a case-by-case basis if residents move out or stay in while the cleaning is occurring. So far, about 50 percent of the facility’s residents have tested positive for COVID-19. Pictured, left and right: Workers from a Servpro disaster recovery team getshelp from colleagues and adjust their masks before entering Life Care Center, March 11
Killian told reporters on Wednesday that five more positive coronavirus cases of on-site residents were confirmed overnight, increasing from 21 to 26.
This means a total of 59 positive tests have been linked to the facility, including on-site residents, those in hospitals and patients moved to different facilities.
Among the residents who have tested positive is 81-year-old Judie Shape. Her son, Marty Shape, and daughter, Lori Spencer, speak to her on a phone and look at each other through windows.
Another resident who has tested positive is 76-year-old Susan Hailey. Her daughters Bridget Parkhill and Carmen Gray have been pictured standing outside of her room and waving as they speak to her.
And recently, heartbreaking photos captured an 88-year-old wife attempting to communicate with her husband of 60 years through the window of the quarantined care home.
Dorothy Campbell can be seen peering through the glass at her husband Gene, 89, who is trapped inside, but has not tested positive.
In-person visits are not currently not allowed at the nursing home and Governor Jay Inslee has ordered long-term care facilities to limit visitors as coronavirus cases spread across 11 centers.
The head of the American Health Care Association, Mark Parkinson described coronavirus as ‘almost a perfect killing machine’ for the elderly.
‘We are encouraging all people, including family members and loved ones, to not visit nursing homes and assisted living facilities,’ he told CNN.
Instead, Parkinson urged that people communicate with their elderly friends and family members via phone calls, text messages or video chat to not risk spreading coronavirus.
‘The grim reality is that, for the elderly, COVID-19 is almost a perfect killing machine,’ he said.
One resident who has tested positive is 76-year-old Susan Hailey. Her daughters Bridget Parkhill and Carmen Gray have been pictured standing outside of her room and waving as they speak to her (pictured)
Another resident who has tested positive is Judie Shape. Her son , Marty, and daughter, Lori Spencer, speak to her on a phone and look at each other through windows. Pictured: Marty Shape speaks on the phone through a window with his mother, Judie Shape, March 9
Judie Shape (left) who has tested positive for coronavirus, waves to her daughter, Lori Spencer (right) through a window at the Life Care Center, March 11
Dorothy Campbell, 88 (right), can be seen peering through the glass at her husband Gene, 89 (left), who is trapped inside Life Care, but has not tested positive
On Tuesday, Killian, the spokesperson said the center’ staff members have found the new virus to be unpredictable and unbiased in who it effects.
Particularly, he said they’d seen patients in relatively good health suddenly develop symptoms
‘We’ve had patients who, within an hour’s time, show no symptoms to going to acute symptoms and being transferred to the hospital,’ Killian said at a news conference on Sunday.
‘And we’ve had patients die relatively quickly under those circumstances.’
One-third of Life Care’s staff, about 65 people, are reporting symptoms, but only 30 have been tested so far.
The University of Washington School of Medicine said it could test all Life Care staff, but the federal government has not given kits for the center’s employees
The head of the American Health Care Association, Mark Parkinson described coronavirus as ‘almost a perfect killing machine’ for the elderly. Pictured: A patient is transferred into an ambulance at the Life Care Center, March 7
One-third of Life Care’s staff, about 65 people, are reporting symptoms, but only 30 have been tested so far. Pictured: Healthcare workers workers transport a patient on a stretcher into an ambulance at Life Care Center, February 29
The University of Washington School of Medicine said it could test all Life Care staff, but the federal government has not given kits for the center’s employees. Pictured: A patient is loaded into an ambulance at the Life Care Canter, March 10
Life Care is now the subject of a federal investigation after it emerged that it has struggled to control the spread of viruses in the past.
Last April, Washington state fined the facility $67,000 citing infection-control deficiencies after two flu outbreaks sickened 17 patients and staff members.
Investigators claimed Life Care did not adequately train staff in ‘transmission-based precautions’ required under federal regulation, and failed to make sure the precautions were being followed.
Two months later, the nursing home was compliant with all regulations including transmission precautions, infection control and hand hygiene.
However, a Medicare health inspection rating ranked the facility just three out of five stars.
Officials have not yet determined how the senior living facility became a hot spot for of some of the nation’s deadly cases.
The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is sending inspectors along with experts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to investigate what happened and determine whether the nursing home followed guidelines for preventing infections.
Worldwide, more than 121,000 people in more than 100 countries have been infected with coronavirus and more than 4,000 have died.
In the US, more than 1,000 people have been diagnosed with the virus and 32 people have died in five states: California, Florida, New Jersey, South Dakota and Washington