Hunter
04/07/20
A long-term care facility in Iowa City has reported the first case of COVID-19 at a center of its type in the city.
Bickford Senior Living Center on Lower West Branch Road reported one case, although the Iowa City Press Citizen reports that the center didn’t return requests for comment as to when the case was identified.
Outbreaks at care facilities across the state have accounted for a significant percentage of the state’s 946 known cases. In Linn County, Heritage Specialty Care in Cedar Rapids has identifed 71 of the 176 known cases there.
At her news conference Monday, governor Kim Reynolds said that knowing long-term care facilities were most susceptible to outbreak, officials started meeting with those facilities on March 10th and issued an order restricting visitors to those facilities. Recommendations that staff use face masks and other PPE equipment were added on April 1st.
IDPH Deputy Director Sarah Reisetter said that facilities are now screening staff twice a day and patients once a day for symptoms of the coronavirus.
