Sundale Rehabilitation and Long Term Care facility in Morgantown confirmed a 100-year-old female resident of the facility died late last week of COVID-19, its fifth virus-related death since early April.
Carl Shrader, Sundale’s medical director who is also a WVU Medicine physician, said the resident was in the Sundale’s hospice unit and showed no signs of the novel coronavirus until she was tested.
Shrader said results from tests done earlier this week on 18 residents and nine staff members show four employees and five of the residents are now negative. Results are pending on one patient.
Since COVID-19 was first diagnosed at Sundale six weeks ago, 33 patients and staff have recovered from the virus.
“All remaining residents that are currently testing positive are doing very well and are displaying no signs or symptoms of any illness or discomfort,” said Mike Hicks, president of Suncrest Medical, the parent company of Sundale.
Shrader said the plan is to continue testing residents in two of the facility’s four wings until everyone has tested negative for the virus for two consecutive weeks.
The average age of a Sundale resident is 85. The facility, which can accommodate 100 residents, typically averages five deaths a month. In April, nine residents died, five from COVID-19.
The latest statistics Tuesday evening from the state Department of Health and Human Services shows 108 confirmed cases of the virus in Monongalia County and five COVID-19 deaths, all Sundale residents. Neighboring Marion County has 46 confirmed cases and two deaths, while Preston County has 13 confirmed cases.
Statewide there are 1,242 confirmed cases of the virus out of 53,195 tested for an infection rate of 2.25%. There have been 50 deaths. Statistics from the state show 22% of the people infected are over the age of 70 and 58.4% are females.
Other West Virginia counties with more than 100 confirmed cases of COVID-19 include Kanawha with 170 cases and 10 deaths. Berkley has 166 cases and two deaths, while Jackson has 134 cases and 15 deaths.
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