MORGANTOWN-
The medical director of Sundale Rehabilitation and Long Term Care in Morgantown said Wednesday only one of its residents remains positive for COVID-19.
According to Carl Shrader, who is also a WVU Medicine physician, the 83-year-old female resident is asymptomatic and first tested positive for COVID-19 four weeks ago.
“She will be tested on Monday,” Shrader said.
Sundale has been at the center of the novel coronavirus outbreak in Monongalia County since mid-March, when a female patient returned from a local hospital for treatment for a urinary tract infection and began running a fever a few hours later. The woman, who has since recovered, was tested for the virus and was found to be positive.
That case led to testing of the staff and the 80-plus patients at Sundale, with assistance on two occasions from the West Virginia National Guard. Sundale has had five deaths associated with COVID-19 since the outbreak first began. Four of these patients, however, were already earmarked for Hospice care, said Shrader, adding only one resident lost their life because of the virus.
Shrader said Sundale has not had any new cases among its residents and staff in the last four weeks, including those on its COVID-19 isolation wing on the facility’s first floor.
Sundale staff is now looking at ways residents will be able to visit face-to-face with family members, something that has not happened since March. The facility is also in the process of getting an open-ended clear plastic box from City Neon Inc., a Morgantown sign manufacturer and erection company, where a resident can be wheeled into and visit safely with family and friends.
As West Virginia enters into Week 5 of Gov. Jim Justice’s West Virginia Strong — The Comeback, there have been 121 confirmed cases in Monongalia County and 99 people have recovered, according to the state Department of Health and Human Services.
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