COVID-19 infections in KY nursing homes nearly quadruple. More than 1,000 are dead.

Nov. 13--The number of active COVID-19 infections among Kentucky nursing home residents and employees has nearly quadrupled since mid-August to about 2,200, while the industry's death toll from the virus this week passed 1,000, according to state data.

"Words can't describe it. It's just heartbreaking," said Shari Newton, executive director of Redbanks Skilled Nursing Center in Henderson. Twenty-five residents -- 15 percent of Redbanks' population -- died from COVID-19 during an outbreak over the last two months.

State health officials say they're helping nursing homes every way they know how. The state has sent two "strike teams" into long-term care facilities to fill in for ailing or quarantined employees, and it has assisted them with the purchase of 1.83 million pieces of personal protective equipment and 350,000 novel coronavirus tests.

But as COVID-19 blazes across Kentucky, there is no realistic way to keep it out of nursing homes anymore, experts say. Employees return every day to their surrounding communities, and if the virus is pervasive enough, it will come in with one of them, despite constant temperature checks and questions about symptoms, they say.

As of Thursday, 94 of Kentucky's 120 counties were classified as "red zones," which means they had at least 25 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people. Some counties reported twice that rate.

"I don't know that the government can do much more," said Sherry Culp, Kentucky's state long-term care ombudsman and a member of Gov. Andy Beshear'sLong-Term Care Task Force.

"This is really in the hands of individuals now," Culp said. "It's up to people to wear their masks, to wash their hands, to not have big social gatherings -- basically, to take responsibility for keeping transmission rates down where they live."

Community spread brings a record high

Data from the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services shows an earlier spike in active COVID-19 infections over the summer for nursing home residents and staff. The total number of active infections rose to more than 1,000 the week of July 10. Then it gradually dropped by nearly half over the rest of July and into August.

The numbers started to surge again in September, topping 1,000 active infections the week of Sept. 25; 1,500 the week of Oct. 15; and 2,000 this week.

During this same period, the virus quickly was getting passed around the general population.

"Folks, we're seeing this increased community spread across the commonwealth. That is the driving factor in a lot of these facilities," Eric Friedlander, the state's health secretary, said in Beshear's Nov. 4 news briefing. "We're seeing an alarming increase in long-term care facilities because we're seeing an alarming increase in community spread."

About 60 percent of Kentucky's COVID-19 deaths so far involve long-term care facilities. Nine facilities have lost 20 or more residents to the virus since the pandemic began in March, according to state data.

'Boom,' the virus has arrived

One of those facilities is Redbanks in Henderson, a locally owned nonprofit with an "above average" quality of care rating by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Redbanks escaped the scourge of COVID-19 for six months. It carefully screened its 265 employees every shift for signs of the virus, used PPE throughout the building and passed several of the state's infection control surveys.

However, by September, the coronavirus was speeding through Henderson and surrounding counties, where Redbanks' employees live. On Sept. 19, the state reported that neighboring Union County had a staggering 76.5 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people.

"That is, boom, right when we started to see the cases here," said Newton, Redbanks' executive director.

The subsequent outbreak at Redbanks killed 25 residents, and it infected 79 residents and 120 employees.

So many staff either were out sick or quarantined that for several weeks in October Redbanks reported a critical shortage of nurses and nurse aides. The state health cabinet sent four nurse aides to help cover critical overnight shifts.

Living in a 'red zone' community

As of Tuesday, Redbanks finally managed to stamp out the deadly infections, officially closing its COVID-19 unit, Newton said.

The outbreak was traumatic for everyone involved, she said.

"It's been very sad for the staff that went through it, and it's been very sad for the families who lost loved ones," Newton said.

Local officials in Henderson say they've had a hard time convincing residents to obey the state's mask mandate and other safety recommendations intended to curb the spread of the virus.

Indiana, which reopened its economy more quickly this summer, lies directly across the river from Henderson and its neighboring counties. Kentuckians cross the river to work, shop and play in southern Indiana, and as a result, they not only are more exposed to the virus across the state line, they also chafe against some of the restrictions back home, officials said.

This week, Henderson County reported 51.5 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people.

"Having a border state right there, where the rules are a little different, maybe led us into a situation where our citizens relaxed their guard too much," said Henderson County Judge-Executive Brad Schneider.

Redbanks has more than 200 employees, so any disease sickening the community inevitably will sicken some of them, Schneider said. Someone not wearing his mask in the grocery store can pass the virus to a person behind him in line who just happens to be an aide at the local nursing home, he said.

"Once they go home at night, they're under the same threat that everyone else is for coming into contact with someone who is positive," the judge said. "You can be tested, but you know, several days can pass before you show positive or you're sick or symptomatic, and in the meantime, you go back to work and you infect people."

"It's no different than any other workplace other than the fact that you're in close proximity every day to a lot of people who fall in the range of being most endangered once they get infected with this thing. And they're all living there together, under one roof, which makes it just ripe for outbreaks," Schneider said.

Culp, the state long-term care ombudsman, said she fears some Kentuckians don't take the virus seriously because the majority of deaths are occurring in relatively closed-off institutions filled with senior citizens nearing the end of their lives.

"I'm not sure if people aren't hearing the messages about this or if it's -- I hate to say it -- ageism that's playing into it," Culp said. "Yes, many of these people are older and they may need some assistance. But they still are loved, they still have something to contribute, and it's our responsibility to protect them to the best of our ability."

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