Another positive coronavirus test in wake of Pamela Northam visit

Two of seven staff members at Kids’ Station, a Fredericksburg day care facility visited last week by Virginia first lady Pamela Northam, have tested positive for coronavirus.

The workers were tested after Northam and her husband, Gov. Ralph Northam, announced on Friday they had confirmed cases of the virus. The couple found out they were infected after a household staff member had a confirmed case, and the Northams’ results came two days after Pamela Northam visited three sites in Fredericksburg as part of her annual back-toschool tour.

Kids’ Station is a preschool, day care and afterschool facility for children of Mary Washington Healthcare workers. Because parents are “understandably concerned and to help give them peace of mind,” MWHC is offering them free COVID-19 tests, spokeswoman Emily Thurston said.

Kids’ Station was closed Monday after the first staff member tested positive, then reopened Tuesday. A person who was at Downtown Greens, a community garden toured by Pamela Northam, also has tested positive.

The impact from the first lady’s visit comes as the area is seeing a slowdown in new cases.

From mid-August to mid-September, new virus cases were increasing by the 30s, 40s and even 50s each day. But for 8 of the last 10 days, the number of new daily cases has been in the teens and 20s.

No new deaths have been reported for five days, and as of Tuesday’s report, there were 15 patients receiving care for virus symptoms in the three local hospitals. That’s about half as many as late spring, when the Rappahannock Area Health District saw its first peak of virus cases.

In addition, the positivity rate, which measures how many test results are positive among all those taken, continues to stay under 5%, which health officials consider low. The rate for the past seven days was 4.5% in the local health district and 4.6% statewide, according to the Virginia Department of Health.

Public health officials don’t want people to see these data points and become complacent, “but rather remain steadfast in continuing to follow precautions,” said Allison Balmes-John, spokeswoman for the local health district.

“Many parts of the country are beginning to again see increases, and we want to take steps to avoid such an increase in our area,” she said. “The virus remains in our community and as an infectious disease, it continues to spread.”

As the region enters what she described as a “new normal,” Balmes-John noted that many activities have resumed, but with precautions in place. Such will be the case when local students return to the classroom next month for a few days of in-person learning.

“Masks, social distancing and frequent handwashing will be required,” she said.

As for the current situation among those at the opposite end of the age spectrum, no new cases or deaths have been reported at the four local long-term care facilities currently classified by the state as having outbreaks of COVID-19 in progress.

Heritage Hall nursing home in King George County, which had 10 cases during the area’s first outbreak in May, experienced a second cluster in late August involving five cases, according to state data.

It currently has no active cases, said Chelsea East, a spokeswoman with American Healthcare, which manages Heritage Hall.

A letter sent to state governors on Tuesday from the American Health Care Association and the National Center for Assisted Living highlights the tragic impact COVID-19 has had on long-term care settings across the country.

Current data from the Kaiser Family Foundation shows that patients in nursing homes and assisted-living facilities represent 8% of total virus cases nationwide, but 41% of deaths.

They’ve represented at least 34 of the local health district’s 75 deaths, to date.

The letter stressed the need for states to prioritize distribution of the COVID vaccine, when it becomes available, to residents of long-term care facilities. The AHCA and NCAL pointed out that the average age of residents is 85, and almost every person has at least one underlying health condition.

That makes their risk of mortality 630 times higher than people age 18 to 29, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.