COVID-19 cases jump in Floyd County, including now at nursing homes, medical center

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

After more than two weeks without a new case of COVID-19 reported in Floyd County, the numbers have begun to climb again.

Included in those numbers are two residents from the Chautauqua Guest Homes in Charles City as well as staff at the Floyd County Medical Center. Both Chautauqua and the medical center issued statements Monday that they had positive cases.

Floyd County Public Health Administrator Gail Arjes offered some familiar advice: “Just make sure to remind people of the social distancing and hand washing and staying home when they’re ill. That is so important to not get complacent with that and not let our guard down.”

Sue Ayers, co-owner, former administrator and current infection preventionist at the Chautauqua Guest Homes, said residents, family and staff at 9th Street and 11th Street Chautauqua were notified on Thursday, June 18, that a resident at each facility had tested positive for COVID-19.

“These are the first positive cases at any of the Chautauqua facilities,” Ayers said.

“Other residents at both 9th and 11th Street Chautauqua are receiving enhanced monitoring and screening for symptoms of COVID-19 at least twice daily since receiving notification of the positive tests,” she said in a statement.

Staff will continue to be screened prior to beginning each work shift with active temperature monitoring and screening questions. Temperatures will again be recorded at the conclusion of each shift, Ayers said.

The two residents with COVID-19 have been isolated to four double rooms in the west wing at 11th Street Chautauqua “with care provided by specially trained staff members whose work hours are spent entirely within the unit,” Ayers said.

“This separation ensures that care provided within the Covid-19 unit and also to the other residents in the facility is completed following all recommended infection control standards. The remaining six beds in this unit are available if needed,” she said.

“The overwhelming goal at this time is maintaining the health and safety of all residents and staff,” Ayers said.

Also on Monday, Rod Nordeng, administrator of the Floyd County Medical Center, said staff members had tested positive for COVID-19.

“FCMC’s staffing is representative of the community’s population, and we now have colleagues who have tested positive for COVID-19,” Nordeng said in the statement to the public.

“FCMC is in regular communications with local and state public health authorities and continues to monitor the situation daily. Testing is being offered to all FCMC employees in our ongoing actions to provide health care to you, our friends and neighbors, in as safe and compassionate environment as possible during this pandemic,” he said in the statement.

“Perhaps we knew it was inevitable even with precautions that some of us would become ill, but that does not make it any easier to know that our colleagues and others in Floyd County are ill,” Nordeng said. “Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers.”

County Public Health Administrator Arjes told the Press it’s not a surprise that cases have been reported at the facilities.

“We kind of feel like something like that was probably going to happen at some point as we see our case counts increase not only in Floyd County but also in surrounding counties,” she said.

“But that’s why we continue to do testing …, and I know both of those facilities are working very hard to continue their testing to prevent the spread of it any further,” she said.

Arjes said there likely is a link between things opening up and people getting out more and the increasing number of COVID-19 cases.
“That’s kind of obvious,” she said.

After holding steady at 19 cases in Floyd County for more than two weeks, the numbers have been climbing again, to almost double that figure by Monday afternoon.

Many of the additional cases are ones that the Iowa Department of Health has added for previous dates, including some additional cases within that period where previously that number had held steady at 19.

On Monday morning the number of positive cases in Floyd County reported on the state’s COVID-19 information website was 33. A little later that number had increased to 34, but by early Monday afternoon it was back at 33. By mid-afternoon the number stood at 36 and by Monday evening it was listed as 37.

The site is now updated continually as new numbers come in, the Iowa Department of Health has said.

Arjes said the numbers can fluctuate as cases are examined more closely.

“We see some as we do our contract tracing and follow-up that, maybe that this case may live in another state but they still consider their home address Floyd County,” she said.

Arjes said it is also taking longer to get the results of tests as the volume increases in the lab the county is using, but overall she is satisfied with the amount of testing being done in the county.

“There’s testing available in several different locations including within the county at the clinic. There’s also a Test Iowa site in Mitchell County and one in Waterloo that I know our residents have been utilizing. There’s adequate testing, I feel, going on within the county.

Arjes repeated her admonition:

“We just really want to remind people that, just because things have opened up and there’s more things going on, more activities to do, we can’t forget about our social distancing and being very cautious about how close we are to people. We need to wear our masks, we need to remember hand-washing, using hand sanitizer.

“And again, it’s so important when you’re feeling ill, even mildly ill, to stay home. If you have questions about that you can call Public Health or your medical provider,” she said.