Assisted living worker tests positive

An employee at Honeysuckle Senior Living, an assisted living facility in Hayden, tested positive for COVID-19 on April 10.

The employee last worked at the facility on April 6, according to a letter sent to residents’ family members.

Panhandle Health District’s public information officer, Katherine Hoyer, said the employee “had minimal to no contact with patients and was only symptomatic for one day while working.”

The facility is managed by Compass Senior Living, a Eugene, Ore.-based senior housing company.

“We also have two precautionary tests pending for two other team members,” said Amira Fahoum, Education and Programs Leader for Compass Senior Living.

Fahoum was not able to disclose the nature of the employee’s work or the frequency of their interactions with residents and other staff members, but did disclose that the employee’s health practitioner thought it likely the employee contracted the virus outside the assisted living facility.

For the past month, Honeysuckle Senior Living suspended all non-essential visitation, screened employees and visitors prior to entry, and enhanced cleaning procedures. After the employee’s confirmed COVID-19 test, the facility now requires all team members to wear masks while working, provides all meals and services to residents inside their apartments, and monitors all residents and staff throughout the day for COVID-19 symptoms.

“The facility is doing an excellent job in keeping their staff and patients safe and healthy,” Hoyer said.

Hoyer said the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare does not require long-term care facilities to communicate positive COVID-19 tests to residents or family members, nor are health districts required to report facilities with confirmed cases to the public.

In a meeting, PHD’s epidemiologist confirmed that at least 12 facilities have a policy to communicate COVID-19 pending tests and results within their facilities with residents, employees, and family members. That decision is based strictly on individual company policy, without regulation by the state.

“If there was a confirmed case at a facility it is not our guidance, from an epidemiological standpoint, to require all staff to be tested,” Hoyer said.

At this point, only staff and residents at long-term care facilities who exhibit symptoms can be tested for the coronavirus.

The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare’s online tracking system, tableau public, does not provide information on the symptoms of the state’s 1,587 confirmed cases.

On April 12, over 3,600 nursing home and long-term care facility deaths had been reported to health districts across the country. In Idaho, the number is unknown.