Six residents and three staff members of the Woodward Resource Center (WRC) have tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, a statement from the Iowa Department of Human Resources (DHS) announced Saturday.
The statement said that after one WRC resident deemed presumptively positive for COVID-19 was confirmed as positive May 1, the other 15 residents in the home were tested as a precaution even though they were asymptomatic.
“Five additional residents at WRC have now tested positive,” the DHA statement said. “To protect other residents in the home, WRC residents who test positive are transitioned to another house on campus designated for positive cases. As their symptoms improve and they meet specific criteria, they will transition to a step-down house before returning to their primary residence.”
Opened in 1917, the WRC is now home to about 120 residents and employs about 300 state workers.
Ten WRC residents and 14 staff members tested negative, and four employee test results are pending.
In accord with guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH), employees testing positive must not return to work until at least seven days have passed since the onset of symptoms and at least three days have passed with no fever and without the use of fever-reducing medicine.
The DHS said many of the infected employees were not on site for multiple days before their tests returned positive, which significantly limited the risk of exposure to other employees and residents.
“We will continue to follow strict protocols to prevent the further spread of the virus,” the statement said. “We’ve been working closely with IDPH, Boone County Public Health and have also pulled in a team of doctors for additional technical assistance from the University of Iowa. We will use every tool at our disposal to ensure our team and clients are supported through this time.”
