At least 8 have died of virus at Lewiston nursing home

Eight residents of Life Care Center of Lewiston who tested positive for COVID-19 are among 17 who have died at the nursing home since the illness was first detected there last month.

Life Care Centers of America provided the Tribune updated numbers Thursday detailing the devastating outbreak at the Lewiston facility.

“Our heartfelt condolences go out to the family and friends of the residents who have passed away. Our facility is a family, and we’re all working together to take care of our residents and each other,” said the statement from Leigh Atherton, a spokeswoman for the company based in Cleveland, Tenn. “We remain committed to providing quality care as we fight COVID-19.”

The illness was first detected at the facility on March 25. Since that time, 17 residents have died, but it is unclear how many of those, in addition to the eight who were tested, had COVID-19. Some of those deaths occurred early on in the outbreak when test availability in north central Idaho was severely limited.

“We don’t know if the remaining nine residents who we lost were positive for COVID-19, and if post-mortem testing was done, those results were not shared with us,” said Atherton in an email message.

The Tribune previously reported at least three residents of Life Care Center of Lewiston died from the illness but were not tested, according to their families. They include 90-year-old Norma Jean Miles, who died April 4; 93-year-old Jack Spears, who died April 6; and 75-year-old Marsha Ellis, who died April 11.

The Thursday statement from Life Care Center also indicated 34 residents have tested positive for the illness, 29 tested negative and that all of its current residents have now been tested.

The statement said the facility has followed the latest guidelines designed to control the spread of the illness since the beginning of the outbreak in the U.S and is working with state and local health agencies. It also indicated it has received support from family members of residents and the greater community.

“We’ll continue to provide regular updates to state and local officials, as well as to family members who are concerned about the health and safety of their loved ones,” according to the statement.

Some family members of residents who died have been critical of the company for not being more transparent during the outbreak.

“I should have the right to know what is going on in that building. What the hell is going on in that building? Nobody is saying anything,” Catherine Voss, a resident of Apache Junction, Ariz., previously told the Tribune.

Voss’ mother, Edna McBride, died of COVID-19 at Life Care Center on April 23. Voss said Thursday that she is haunted by the thought she may have been able to remove her mother from the facility had she known earlier of the extent of the outbreak. Her mother was at Tri-State Memorial Hospital in Clarkston briefly for chest X-rays weeks before she died.

“I would have never sent her back over there,” Voss said. “I don’t know if she had it then.”

The nursing home had 75 residents at the start of the outbreak and now has 53. The facility employs 125 people, of whom 14 have tested positive for COVID-19, while five have tested negative and two tests are pending. According to the company, nine employees are out sick.

Nursing homes and long-term care facilities across the country have been hit hard by the illness. The residents of such facilities are especially vulnerable. They are mostly elderly and often have health problems. Many require help with eating, dressing, moving and basic hygiene, making it more difficult for them to social distance.

In Idaho, 18 such facilities have reported at least one confirmed case of COVID-19 in a resident or staff member, and a total of 202 cases, according to numbers provided by the state’s Health and Welfare Department. As of Thursday, 32 residents of Idaho’s nursing homes have died of COVID-19.

Officials at Public Health – Idaho North Central District reported two more COVID-19 deaths in Nez Perce County on Thursday, bringing the county’s total to 18, the most in the state. The county has 51 confirmed and nine probable cases. That works out to a 30 percent death rate. All of the people who have died were at least 70 years old and most were 80 or older.

The stunningly high rate appears to be related to both the scarcity of testing in the five-county health district and the outbreak at Life Care Center. On April 16, Idaho Health and Welfare Director Dave Jeppesen told Idaho Public TV reporter Aaron Kuntz that Nez Perce County’s high death rate was related to elderly victims in a care facility.

Both state and local health districts have been unwilling to say which nursing homes have experienced COVID-19 cases or how many of the deaths in Nez Perce County were connected to nursing homes.

The two COVID-19 deaths reported Thursday in the Nez Perce County were women in their 80s.

The total number of confirmed and suspected cases in the region remained unchanged at 59 and nine, respectively, according to updated figures from Public Health – Idaho North Central District. In addition to the 51 confirmed and nine probable cases in Nez Perce County, there are five confirmed cases in Latah County and three in Idaho County.

Statewide, Idaho recorded 31 new cases Thursday, down from 32 on Wednesday and 35 on Tuesday. That brings the total number of confirmed cases in the state to 2,015, with 63 deaths.

Given limitations on testing capacity, the number of confirmed cases likely understates the true extent of the virus, both in Idaho and around the country.

In Washington, Asotin County reported one new case Thursday, bringing its total to 18, with two fatalities. Garfield County remained the only county in the state with no confirmed cases.

The Washington Department of Health listed Whitman County with 14 confirmed cases, unchanged from Thursday. However, Whitman County Public Health was reporting 16 positive cases as of Thursday morning.

Statewide, the Department of Health reported 257 new confirmed cases, with 13 fatalities. Washington now has at least 14,327 cases of COVID-19, with 814 fatalities.

Barker may be contacted at ebarker@lmtribune.com or at (208) 848-2273. Follow him on Twitter @ezebarker.