Over the weekend a staff member at Juneau’s Wildflower Court nursing home started to feel mildly ill. That person got tested on Monday and turned up positive for COVID-19.
Family of residents were sent notices on Tuesday. So far, no else has tested positive.
“We had one staff member that tested positive, but they had no contact with residents and very limited contact with any other staffers,” said Kirk Elmore, an administrator with Wildflower Court.
Because of the surge in cases in Juneau, unvaccinated staff are being tested weekly. After they had a positive case, the nursing home tested all unvaccinated staff members and two vaccinated staff members who were close contacts. In its letter to families, Wildflower Court reported that nearly 84% of its staff and about 88% of its residents are vaccinated.
Elmore said they’re still urging people to wash their hands, keep their distance from each other, and limit the sizes of their social bubbles. Despite evidence that vaccinated people can carry and spread the Delta variant of COVID-19, Elmore said it’s still a good idea to get one.
“I think being vaccinated is our best defense, even against the variant, for us to keep our residents safe and our staff safe as well,” he said.
Wildflower Court is still allowing visitors with some restrictions. Everyone has to wear a mask, they’re screened when they come in, they’re only allowed to visit one resident at a time and they’re asking for unvaccinated people to stay away from the facility and find alternative ways to communicate with residents.
This is the third time Wildflower Court has reported positive cases onsite, though only one involved patients. The facility was one of the first of its kind in the state to have over 80% of its staff vaccinated.
Elmore said the hope is that while people can still carry COVID-19 while vaccinated, it will prevent more severe infections.
“From what I am understanding…if there are breakthrough cases the nice thing about that is they’re either asymptomatic or they’re not as sick as what we’ve seen in the pattern of unvaccinated people,” he said.
