KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — The number of coronavirus cases among residents of a Kansas nursing home has topped 100, after nine additional cases were confirmed.
The additional cases were identified this week at the Riverbend Post Acute Rehabilitation facility in Kansas City, Kansas, the Kansas City Star reported. The increase came after some residents who were said to be COVID-19-negative were retested and found to be positive, health officials said.
“Riverbend recently retested those residents and some tested positive this time. It is possible that some of the initial tests were false negatives,” the health department said in a statement. “As a precaution, Riverbend has separated those residents who had tested negative to a separate floor of the building.”
All told, 103 residents from the nursing and rehabilitation facility and 25 staff members have tested positive for COVID-19. The health department also announced that another Riverbend resident has died, the 28th victim of the coronavirus from that facility.
Relatives of 87-year-old Okey Long, a resident who died after testing positive, filed a lawsuit Thursday accusing Riverbend of negligence in its handling of the coronavirus spread and failing to inform Long’s family about the outbreak.
For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness and death.
As of Saturday, 117 people have died from COVID-19 in Kansas and 3,056 confirmed cases have been reported. The actual number of infections is thought to be far higher because many people have not been tested and studies suggest that people can be infected without feeling sick.
In Wichita, a cluster of coronavirus cases was found at a car dealership. Sedgwick County officials cited five cases at Mel Hambelton Ford, and urged anyone who visited the dealership April 17-20 to contact the county health department.
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