FAYETTE COUNTY, WV (WOAY) – From the Fayette County Health Department:
The Fayette County Health Department announced that all nursing home residents and staff were tested this week for COVID-19.
and residents at all five nursing homes totaling 1,111 people have been tested. The nursing homes include Hidden Valley, Ansted Center, Montgomery, Fayette Nursing and Rehab, and Hilltop Center. Lab results are coming in daily. To date, all lab results from the nursing homes have been negative.
Teri Harlan, Administrator for the Fayette County Health Department stated “We are currently at 9 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Fayette County. However, none of the nine confirmed cases are nursing home residents or staff”. The Health Department with the assistance from the national guard continues to investigate and notify close contacts who are household members, employers, and healthcare professionals to assess and monitor them for signs and symptoms of the illness. All confirmed cases will be isolated and close contacts will be quarantined.
Dr. Anita Stewart, Health Officer for Fayette County Health Department stated “I am proud of our community and the efforts that have been made to prevent the spread of this virus”.
The Health Department asks that the community continue to practice physical distancing. The Fayette County Health Department will continue to provide the drive through COVID testing. If you have questions or feel you need to be tested, please contact your primary care provider or the Fayette County Health Department at 304-574-1617.
No additional information will be released regarding the individuals including the cities in which they live.
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Original Story:
OAK HILL, WV (WOAY) – On Friday, Governor Justice put out an executive order demanding that all nursing home residents and staff in the state be tested for COVID-19.
The Fayette County Health Department assembled a plan over the weekend to get it all done this week.
“We basically, at the health department, just came together with our team and said, ‘Okay, how are we going to make this happen?’ And then we were kind of aggressive to come up with a plan to make that happen this week,” health department administrator Teri Harlan said.
If everything does go according to that plan, 1,200 residents and staffers in Fayette County will be tested at all five nursing homes by Friday. On Monday, they began with 180 at Hidden Valley in Oak Hill.
“We have two teams inside who are testing the residents. We are, of course, working with the staff who work here at the nursing home,” Harlan said. “They make up part of those teams, and then we’re doing the staff of the nursing home outside, and they’ll just walk through, of course, practicing safe distancing.”
To pull off hundreds of tests this week, the health department made several calls over the weekend for supplies, but it was LabCorp who came through to supply the tests they need.
Another partner who made the big difference was Mt. Hope Fire and EMS. They have been committed to swabbing on Tuesdays and Thursdays for regular drive-thru testing, and now they’re doing it for the entire week.
“We’re really happy to be partnering with Mt. Hope Fire and EMS,” Harlan said. “That team is here today to do the testing. They’re going to work with us the entire week. They’re very committed to doing this, and they work so safely, so we’re really happy to have them as such a great partner.”
