By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
Health officials said today that the SEARHC long-term care resident who tested positive for the COVID-19 virus was asymptomatic, and is the only one of the 15 residents in the Sitka facility who tested positive.
The positive test announced on Saturday came to light as the result of the program now under way by local health authorities to start testing highly vulnerable people such as residents of nursing homes, care providers and providers of essential services, regardless of whether they show COVID symptoms.
The SEARHC long-term care facility is located in the old Sitka Community Hospital building on Moller Drive.
After the positive test result at the long-term care facility, the patient was transferred to the Mt. Edgecumbe Medical Center for isolation.
It was the first and only positive result so far in the testing that has been done in Sitka since COVID-related social distancing and other mitigation measures went into effect in mid-March.
“This test was performed as part of the testing that we did of all of our residents in the long-term care facility,” Dr. Elliot Bruhl, SEARHC vice president and chief medical officer, said at a press conference this morning. “(Testing) was done out of a concern for the safety or necessity of ... identifying asymptomatic carriage of the virus.” He said the Sitka Long-Term Care residents were tested six days ago.
Bruhl said that after the state Department of Health and Social Services reported the positive test to SEARHC and city officials, the patient was removed from the 15-resident facility and there was immediate testing of all of the staff who work in that facility and “all of that testing was negative.”
Bruhl, City Administrator John Leach and state Public Health Nurse Denise Ewing spoke to reporters from the Sentinel and KCAW-FM at a news conference conducted by teleconference.
The state Department of Health and Social Services announced Sitka’s case Sunday, along with a confirmed case in North Pole.
“Of the new cases, both are male. One is aged 40-49 and one is aged 60-69,” the website said.
Four cases were announced today, in Anchorage (2), Eagle River (1) and Wasilla (1).
“Contact tracing” has begun but no information was available today about how the patient in the closely monitored health facility came to be infected with the virus.
Ewing said the state Division of Public Health’s process of contact tracing includes calling all those who came into contact with the patient in the last 14 days.
Bruhl said the type of test that showed the positive result “has a documented sensitivity of 95 percent. ... it’s good quality testing.”
A rapid test was also conducted as part of required testing of MEMC inpatients, which came back negative.
“The state department of epidemiology is going to be providing additional testing and that may be helpful in at least understanding, or creating more context around these results,” Bruhl said. “We’re working and communicating with them, to get additional information about the test results.”
“The tests are not 100%,” Ewing added later. “The tests are very accurate and some of them can go up to 98%. But there’s always that chance, right? So nothing is 100% guaranteed, so you can run into a false negative or a false positive. ... We had two tests that were opposing each other, so that’s why Dr. Bruhl and I both say we can’t speculate. We have to treat a positive as a positive. That’s what we have to do.”
The investigation is continuing, she said.
“We still have to do our due diligence on our end and make sure that the case is fully investigated and the contact tracing is fully done,” Ewing said.
SEARHC said plans have been implemented to ensure the safety of other residents of its long-term care facility in Sitka.
“For the last two months, Sitka Long-term Care has followed rigorous guidelines recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and State of Alaska Department of Health and Social Services to help keep this virus from contacting our most vulnerable population,” officials said in a statement.
That has included prohibiting visitors from entering the building and screening staff at the beginning of every shift. All Long-term care residents have been tested and tests offered to residents and staff at the Sitka Pioneers Home, they said.
“This confirmed case showcases the persistence of this virus, and the ability for asymptomatic people to spread it within the community,” Bruhl said in a news release Saturday. “SEARHC will continue to follow the framework constructed by our Incident Command System and implement planned precautions throughout the consortium.”
SEARHC said this was the fifth confirmed case within a SEARHC facility, among just under 700 tests given around the region.
The Unified Command (SEARHC, the city, and emergency responders) also sent out a news release today encouraging citizens to follow state, local and federal rules related to travel; staying home as much as possible; and practicing social distancing of six feet from others.
The city currently has a shelter-in-place (“hunker down”) resolution in effect, which was extended by the Assembly April 14 through May 12.
SEARHC said the command system has been working to prepare the health consortium staff and facilities for COVID patients.
“All visitor access has been restricted, screening is required at all facilities for both patients and staff, equipment has been inventoried and stocked, and the hospital has configured multiple areas, specifically for COVID-19 patients,” a SEARHC news release stated.
“Incident Command System has requested usage of the three separate Mt. Edgecumbe High School dormitories for surge planning. Each would serve a dedicated use - hospital overflow, mild COVID-19 cases, and persons under investigation. The utilization of MEHS would allow patients from Southeast communities, particularly smaller communities without resources, to be sent to Sitka for ongoing care by SEARHC staff associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Tests are available at the alternate screening site next to Mountainside Family Clinic for those who meet the guidelines, which include fever, cough, new shortness of breath, symptoms of the common cold, new diarrhea, abnormal sense of smell/taste – regardless of travel or exposure
criteria. COVID-19 testing is available by calling 907.966.8799.
