Aberdeen Heights residents test positive for COVID-19 11/20

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact our region, Aberdeen Heights announces that 7 health care residents are positive for the virus.

“Our residents and employees continue to be our highest priority as the virus continues to spread,” said Rick Cumberland, executive director.

On Friday, November 13, we tested 37 residents as part of ongoing outbreak testing at our community. Late last evening, we learned that 7 health care residents are positive for COVID-19.

We have contacted the St. Louis County Health Department and will follow any direction they provide. We have conducted contact tracing and will retest all residents on Friday, November 20.

We will also continue our surveillance testing of employees, testing all staff on Monday, November 16.

Surveillance testing requires all employees, agency employees, volunteers, hospice, lab and therapy providers at our campus to be tested on a frequency determined by our county’s COVID-19 testing positivity rate. Based on our county positivity rate for COVID-19 tests, our campus is testing employees twice per week.

The COVID positive residents will recover in isolation and be cared for by designated staff. We will follow CDC guidelines for when the residents may come out of isolation. Under the current guidelines, symptomatic residents may leave isolation when at least 24 hours have passed since resolution of the resident’s fever without the use of fever-reducing medications and the resident’s symptoms have improved and at least 10 days have passed since symptoms first appeared. Asymptomatic positive residents will quarantine for 14 days. Designated staff members are following doctor’s orders for treatment protocols and following CDC infection prevention protocols.

Aberdeen Heights continues to screen all employees as they enter the community building for a shift and before they have any direct contact with residents.  In addition, staff members are wearing masks per CDC recommendations.

For more information about Aberdeen Heights’ response, go to PMMA’s (Presbyterian Manors of Mid-America’s) website, presbyterianmanors.org/media-room.

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