Morgantown nursing home has largest coronavirus outbreak at a Ky. long-term facility, 51 cases; same owner has Nos. 2 and 3
Morgantown Care & Rehabilitation Center is the only nursing home in Butler County.
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The largest outbreak so far of coronavirus cases at a long-term-care facility in Kentucky is at a Morgantown nursing home that is owned by the same company as the one with what is now the second and third largest outbreaks. That company has 42 nursing homes in Kentucky, according to its website.
Signature HealthCare said in a press release that Morgantown Care & Rehabilitation Center has 29 residents and 22 employees who have tested positive for the virus.
“Officials said all 29 residents stricken are ‘asymptomatic’ or have ‘mild’ cases of the virus,” and all are being treated at the facility, in a separate wing, WBKO-TV in Bowling Green reports.
The company said the Morgantown facility “was fortunate enough to obtain enough of the highly sought after and reliable covid-19 tests, and out of an abundance of caution for the protection of our residents, staff and community at large, (that a decision was made) to test the entire facility.”
“Butler County Judge-Executive Tim Flener announced the news in a Facebook post Sunday, identifying the facility as the community’s nursing home,” the Bowling Green Daily News reports.
The company said any employees who tested positive would not be allowed to return to work “without special and verified medical clearance,” and residents whose cases become more severe will be transferred to hospitals as directed by their physicians.
Besides Morgantown, Columbia and Annville, Signature has Kentucky homes in Albany, Augusta, Bardstown, Beattyville, Bedford, Bowling Green, Brodhead, Calhoun, Calvert City, Carrollton, Danville, Elizabethtown, Georgetown, Glasgow, Harrodsburg, Hartford, Hodgenville, Horse Cave, Lawrenceburg, Lexington (three), Louisville (seven), Liberty, Owensboro (two), Pine Knot, Prestonsburg (two), Radcliff, Taylorsville, Tompkinsville and Winchester.
The Morgantown facility is rated “below average” for inspections and quality of care on the Nursing Home Compare site of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, but above average for staffing. The Columbia facility is rated average on inspections and staffing but “much below average” for quality of care (“below average” for those staying a short time). The Annville facility is rated much below average on inspections, below average on quality of care and average on staffing.
In the three years ending in mid-2019, the Morgantown facility had three serious deficiences and 33 overall deficiencies, tying for the 22nd most deficiencies in the state during that period, according to a compilation by ProPublica, a national investigative reporting newsroom.