Morgantown nursing home is West Virginia's 'ground zero' for coronavirus

More than a dozen residents in a Morgantown, W.Va., nursing home have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, and 76 tests are still pending, officials said Wednesday.

Sixteen residents and four employees at Sundale, which houses 98 residents, have the virus, according to Dr. Carl Shrader, medical director of the nursing home.

He called it “ground zero for covid-19 in West Virginia,” according to the Associated Press. He said the first positive came back Sunday and sparked panic among families, who are not currently permitted to visit the nursing home.

The pending tests are for 50 patients and 26 employees, according to WBOY12. Three patients declined testing, and 28 residents and 24 staff members have tested negative.

Shrader told the Dominion-Post that 11 patients are isolated within the nursing home, and five are being treated at hospitals.

“Right now we’re very fortunate where they appear very stable,” Shrader told WV Metro News. “We’re in the process now of having a unit defined for this patient population where we can cohort them and have consistent staff going into that area where we can prevent further spread in the building.”

Positive cases of covid-19 in West Virginia reached 39 as of Tuesday night, a majority of which are in Monongalia County, where the nursing home is located, according to the state’s Department of Health and Human Services.

The state is under a stay-at-home order, and all nonessential businesses were ordered to close Tuesday by Gov. Jim Justice.

The governor acknowledged the rising toll at Sundale at the start of a virtual prayer service at the state Capitol on Wednesday, AP reported.

“This terrible virus, we know, attacks them and attacks them first and foremost. And those are the ones that we have to look out for in every way especially, we want to look out for all of us but especially them,” Justice said of the elderly.