photo by: Lauren Fox

The Pioneer Ridge Health Center at 4851 Harvard Road in Lawrence.

Twenty-one residents and 16 employees at Pioneer Ridge Health & Rehab have tested positive for COVID-19, according to the company that manages the facility.

Ali Ellis, the marketing director for Midwest Health, said that after the second round of testing at the skilled nursing facility, 15 residents and nine staff members tested positive. Prior to this second round of testing, six residents and seven staff members had already tested positive at the facility, as the Journal-World reported. Pioneer Ridge Health & Rehab, located at 4851 Harvard Road, is a skilled nursing facility that has separate staff and residents from Pioneer Ridge’s independent and assisted living communities.

Ellis said of the 24 cases that were found in the second round of testing, most patients were asymptomatic. A third round of testing was completed Monday, and the results from those tests should be available later this week, she said.

Ellis also said that a Pioneer Ridge Health & Rehab resident has died from COVID-19. Ellis was unable to immediately provide a date for when this resident died.

The skilled nursing facility has split into two sections in an attempt to stop the spread of the virus. All residents who have tested positive for COVID-19 have been placed in a designated COVID-19 area. They are in isolation in individual rooms. Ellis also said that while 16 employees total have contracted the virus and have thus been sent home to quarantine, Pioneer Ridge Health & Rehab has adequate staffing “for the time being.”

Douglas County has reported 844 cases of COVID-19 as of Tuesday, an increase of eight cases since Monday.

In Douglas County, 728 out of the 844 cases are inactive or beyond the infectious period, according to Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health.

photo by: Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health

Aug. 18 COVID-19 update from the health department

The county has averaged about 10 new cases per day over the last 14 days, according to a 14-day moving average graph updated weekdays by the health department. At its height, the 14-day average was about 22 cases per day in early to mid-July. The current average of 10 cases per day is up slightly from a recent low of about nine cases per day in early August.

Nine patients at Lawrence’s hospital had COVID-19 on Tuesday, one fewer than Monday. Five Douglas County residents have died thus far from COVID-19 or with the virus as a contributing factor in their deaths.