Employees at Salina tested positive for COVID-19

One Salina Presbyterian Manor non-direct care employee and one direct care employee tested positive this morning for COVID-19 during the campus’ routine employee surveillance testing for the virus. The employees are in isolation and quarantined at home.

“Our top priority at this time continues to be the safety of our residents and staff members,” said Jeanne Gerstenkorn, PMMA’s vice president for health and wellness and infection preventionist.

The non-direct care employee last worked this morning and passed the pre-shift screening. The direct-care employee last worked this past weekend. The non-direct care employee was sent home upon learning of the positive test. Contact tracing is ongoing.

We are in contact with the Saline County Health Department and per their recommendation, we will continue our weekly testing and follow any other recommendations they provide.

Surveillance testing will continue October 26.

The employees will not be allowed to work until they meet Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) guidelines for when an employee may return to work. Under the current guidelines, symptomatic employees may return to work when at least 72 hours have passed since resolution of the employee’s fever without the use of fever-reducing medications and the employee’s symptoms have improved and at least 10 days have passed since symptoms first appeared. Asymptomatic positive employees will quarantine for 14 days. Upon the employee’s return to work, we will follow CDC recommendations related to work practices and restrictions.

We encourage all staff members to follow CDC guidelines and best practices as these are continually updated.  We have been screening employees as they enter the community building for a shift and before employees have any direct contact with residents.  We educate all staff to stay at home if they are experiencing symptoms of a respiratory illness or not feeling well.

For more information about Salina Presbyterian Manor’s response, go to PMMA’s (Presbyterian Manors of Mid-America’s) website, presbyterianmanors.org/media-room.

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