Workers: Nursing home failed to follow rules

Jul. 5--Two employees of a Fayette County nursing home alleged Friday that they were exposed unnecessarily to Covid-19, after administrators failed to follow Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines for employee testing.

The employees, who asked not to be named, reported that their co-worker at Fayette Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Fayetteville had notified supervisors some time after June 23 that she had been directly exposed to Covid-19 when she and a second nursing home employee had attended a wedding in Huntington on June 20.

A post on the website of American Medical Facilities Management (AMFM), which owns Fayette Nursing and Rehab Center, verified Thursday that an employee had tested positive for the novel coronavirus, which causes the potentially fatal Covid-19. The employee was not hospitalized but was in quarantine at home, according to the website post.

Two employees of Fayette Nursing and Rehab reported Friday that facility administrators had, some time after June 23, issued Covid tests for the two co-workers who had attended the wedding. The tests were negative.

One day later, the employees allege, the two co-workers, who live together and share a residence with a third co-worker, were permitted to return to work.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that anyone who has had known contact with an infected person should isolate for 14 days.

Within 10 days, they said, the co-worker who had been directly exposed began to exhibit Covid-19 symptoms and requested testing. A second Covid test, performed Thursday, was positive, said the employees.

"She (the co-worker) had told the facility the entire story," said one employee. "They should have put her off for at least two weeks.

"She was with residents, had been talking to people without her mask on.

"She herself was not following necessary precautions, even knowing a man with Covid had kissed her on her forehead (during the wedding celebration)," the employee said.

The employee who spoke with The Register-Herald had reportedly had a conversation with the co-worker who tested positive. According to the employee, the infected co-worker did not wear a mask during the conversation.

Some people exhibit no symptoms of Covid and may still pass the virus to another person, according to CDC officials.

The employees who contacted The Register-Herald reported that their supervisors called them Friday and told them they would be tested for Covid.

AMFM is the largest family-owned, privately-held multi-facility nursing home company in the state, according to the AMFM website.

Brandon Totten, community relations manager for AMFM, said Friday that information regarding the number of employees and residents at Fayette Nursing and Rehab Center was not immediately available. He stated that employees' reports of failure to follow CDC guidelines would be investigated.

He said that Covid-19 tests were being conducted on residents and staff on Friday.

"I do know the majority have been tested today," he said.

According to a statement released by AMFM on Friday, multiple guests who attended the Huntington wedding tested positive for Covid-19 after the gathering, and health officials were conducting an investigation. The two Fayette nursing home workers were not flagged by health officials during contact tracing, according to the statement.

County health departments have been utilizing computerized contact tracing programs, according to statements by Raleigh County Health Department Director Dr. Brian MacAulay this past Monday.

AMFM representatives did not say if West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (WVDHHR) or a county health department was conducting the investigation.

"We had two employees who self-reported that they had attended a wedding on June 20," the statement reads. "Reported guests of that wedding tested positive for Covid-19 after the event.

"Our employees were not part of the epidemiological contact tracing conducted by health officials investigating the wedding.

"Both employees had no symptoms of Covid-19 but were tested out of an abundance of caution."

According to the statement, the tests were negative.

"The employees were allowed to return to work once those results were received," the statement reads.

AMFM is conducting its own investigation.

"Our employees and patients have been tested, and we are working with our local health department and following state and CDC guidelines to ensure the safety of our patients and employees," the statements reads.

Updates will be posted on social media and the AMFM website.

The second employee said that Fayette Nursing and Rehab Center workers would like more information from AMFM regarding the reasons they were exposed.

"The ones that I have talked to, anyway, are really worried, because at the end of the day, we were all exposed, when we shouldn't have been," the worker said. "The facility could have 100 percent prevented this.

"I think there has been a complete lack of solid information given to us, since (Thursday) at least," the employee said. "Even going and getting our tests this morning, nobody really spoke to me.

"And I still haven't heard from anybody there (about) what I'm supposed to do, now."

The worker said there are fears that family members have been exposed.

AMFM owns Wayne Nursing & Rehabilitation Center in Wayne County, where 36 patients and 30 workers initially tested positive for Covid-19 in April. Fifty-eight patients and 70 workers were immediately tested, and others have been tested since then.

The AMFM website reports that, 52 days since the first positive test was identified, 38 patients and 39 staff members have recovered from Covid-19.

Nine patients who tested positive for the virus, during the first round of testing, died.

Tests that Gov. Jim Justice mandated in April were completed at Greenbrier Health Care Center in Lewisburg and Summers Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Hinton, both AMFM facilities. All tests performed there were negative, as of May 4, according to the website.

Justice had suspended visits to nursings homes but began to allow visits, with restrictions, on June 17.

As of Saturday morning, West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources had reported a total of 181,324 tests, with 3,141 Covid cases, and 94 deaths.

DHHR Secretary Bill Crouch announced Saturday that an 89-year-old Greenbrier County woman was the most recent victim.

There were 150 new cases of Covid-19 in the state on Thursday and Friday. The state record for Covid-19 positive tests was on Thursday, with 77 positive tests, followed by Friday, with 73 new cases -- a 2.9 percent daily positive rate.

Justice said Thursday that he is considering a mandate that West Virginians wear face masks when they are in a public building. He urged state residents to practice social distancing while celebrating the Fourth of July.

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