Health professionals in Fairbanks are repeating their plea to the public to prevent the spread of COVID-19 as cases in the Interior increase.
A resident of Denali Center in Fairbanks has tested positive for COVID-19. The long-term residential health facility is part of the community non-profit Foundation Health Partners, FHP, that also runs Fairbanks Memorial Hospital and Tanana Valley Clinic. There are also five FHP staff members who have tested positive for the disease, and more announcements are expected today.
At a Saturday online press conference, FHP officials said the resident was likely exposed from a health care worker who later tested positive. Shelley Ebenal, CEO of FHP, said the news was devastating.
“We called this briefing to announce some heartbreaking news. A Denali Center resident tested positive for COVID-19.”
A lot of measures have been activated in the last two weeks at the Center, eliminating visitors, social activities, and the screening of staff and residents twice a day for symptoms of COVID-19. Dr. Daniel McCulley, the Medical Director of Denali Center says that was how they diagnosed this octogenarian patient, who was tested last Wednesday.
“At the time of the test on March 25, she only had very mild symptoms of a low-grade temperature – not even meeting the criteria for a fever. She remained in appropriate isolation until the results came back March 27. She remains at the Denali Center, and she is still only mildly symptomatic.”
All the families of Denali Center residents have been contacted. The long-term care facility for disabled and elderly patients currently has 75 residents. It has a 90-bed capacity. Many residents have been there for years.
All of the residents and the 135 staff members of Denali Center have been tested for the coronavirus. FHP officials expected the results of most of those tests Saturday evening, and are expected to announce the results Monday afternoon.
Another concern is the medical workers themselves. On Saturday, there were five FHP staff members known to be positive. Dr. Angelique Ramirez, FHP’s Medical Director of Quality, says they’ve known of the risk of the increased viral load that attendants, nurses and doctors are exposed to as they tend to patients.
“This is a very challenging situation, for all our staff. We’ve been responding to guidelines that have been evolving on a daily basis. We’ve also been responding to articles that are coming out in the scientific literature, on an almost daily basis, as we learn about this virus.”
Dr. Daniel McCulley, says the burden of not spreading the disease rests on the community:
“People can be quite infectious with only mild symptoms, and even before developing symptoms at all. So, this positive test, even in the tightly controlled environment like Denali Center, really highlights the importance of all Alaskans to take this virus seriously, and to follow the recommendations from the state to slow the spread of the virus.”