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Worker at Good Shepherd Nursing Home tests positive for COVID-19

WHEELING — A worker at Good Shepherd Nursing Home in Wheeling has tested positive for the coronavirus, the facility’s officials announced Wednesday.

The unidentified staff member is believed to have contracted COVID-19 “as a result of community contact,” according to Donald Kirsch, administrator for Good Shepherd Nursing Home.

In response, Kirsch said all residents and staff at the facility will be tested for the coronavirus out of “an abundance of caution” and as recommended by state and federal guidelines.

“Fortunately, our staff member is showing no symptoms of the virus,” Kirsch said.

Kirsch did not say when the staff member tested positive or in what capacity the person was working at the nursing home.

“We have informed all residents, their family members and all staff members of this occurrence as well as the upcoming testing,” Kirsch added. “I wish to thank our family members, many of whom expressed their concern and prayers for the welfare of our staff member.”

The positive test result at Good Shepherd is only the fourth at a long-term care facility in the Northern Panhandle since the coronavirus pandemic began. It’s the first case since late April when one worker at Peterson Healthcare and Rehabilitation Hospital in Wheeling and two at Cameron Nursing Home in Marshall County tested positive for the coronavirus.

Nursing homes and assisted living facilities across West Virginia underwent extensive screening in April and May, with every worker and resident in the state being test.

Kirsch said Monday that the facility reopened to the public June 17 and had “a very successful round of visitation” over the past three weeks.

However, he also said the “situation is very fluid” and that “things could change at any moment.”

Kirsch said Wednesday visitation would be suspended indefinitely while awaiting the tests results from the residents and workers.

The Wheeling-Ohio County Health Department on Wednesday announced seven new positive cases of COVID-19 in Ohio County. The health department has reported a total of 113 cases — three recent cases were transferred to another county in West Virginia — during the pandemic.

Statewide statistics show 27 cases are currently active in Ohio County, while 85 people have recovered and one person has died from the virus.

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