FORT SCOTT, Ks. – A Fort Scott Presbyterian Village non-direct resident care employee tested positive for COVID-19 Saturday, August 1. The employee is in isolation and quarantined at home.

The employee, who does not work directly with residents, passed employee screening for their shift on July 30 and wore personal protective equipment as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The employee began to feel ill, left the building and sought COVID-19 testing. The employee has not been back in the building since. The campus was notified that the employee was positive for COVID-19 Saturday evening.

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

The Bourbon County Health Department and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) Epidemiology Hotline have been notified. Health department guidelines will be followed for quarantining and testing of employees and residents. Through contact tracing seven campus employees and two residents have been identified as having close contact with the positive employee. The health department recommends placing all 9 people in isolation until testing can be completed later this week, and monitoring them for fever and signs and symptoms for 14 days.

At this time, no residents or employees are showing signs or symptoms of respiratory illness or COVID-19.

Families have been called to alert them to the potential exposure, and all state and county mandatory required reporting agencies have been notified.

All employees are encouraged to follow CDC guidelines and best practices as these are continually updated. The community regularly reinforces with all staff that an employee should not report to work if he or she is experiencing symptoms of a respiratory illness or are not feeling well.

The employee is recuperating at home and must be COVID-19-free before returning to work. We follow CDC and KDHE guidelines in determining when an employee may return to work. Under the current guidelines, the employee 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. Upon the employee’s return to work, we will follow CDC recommendations related to work practices and restrictions.

For more information about Fort Scott Presbyterian Village’s response, go to PMMA’s (Presbyterian Manors of Mid-America’s) website, Presbyterianmanors.org/Media- room.