An independent and assisted living facility in Kalispell announced one of its residents has tested positive for COVID-19. A female resident at Immanuel Lutheran tested positive for the novel coronavirus Tuesday. All residents and staff are now being tested for the respiratory virus.
The facility is home to roughly 300 residents who live in apartments or private rooms. CEO Jason Cronk says roughly 200 residents live in the building where the female resident tested positive. Cronk says the resident is receiving care while isolated and is in stable condition.
Cronk says no other residents or staff are currently experiencing symptoms. He says the state has provided Immanuel with testing kits.
"We’ll be testing all of our residents and all of our staff in that building tomorrow [July 30] and we will be testing them every week until we have two weeks with no positives.”
Cronk says results are expected next week. The Flathead County Health Department says all close contacts to the positive resident have been notified and are isolating.
Cronk says prior to the positive case, Immanuel had been allowing outdoor family visits while residents remained behind a glass wall. Cronk says the facility also participated in surveillance testing offered by the state in May and had no positive cases.
This is the first resident at a long-term care facility in Flathead County to report a test positive. WEB: BeeHive Homes in Columbia Falls had one staff member test positive for the novel coronavirus earlier this month. The positive case at Immanuel follows a deadly outbreak at Canyon Creek Memory Care in Billings where 15 residents have died
Copyright 2020 Montana Public Radio. To see more, visit Montana Public Radio. 9(MDIyMjUyODczMDE0NTMzMDcxODE2NTgwYQ000))
