A Washington County senior care facility with a known coronavirus outbreak now has enough tests to screen all residents and staff, a top administrator said Monday.
Regency Park administrators had been scrambling to secure testing from a private lab after the Oregon Health Authority said it would not provide tests for residents and workers at the facility.
At least six residents and three workers at Regency Park have tested positive for coronavirus. One of the residents, a 90-year-old woman, has died.
"I would be scouring every source that I have to grab test kits, PPE, foggers, paper products."
The outbreak at Regency Park is the second largest at a senior care facility in Oregon to be publicly disclosed, and the third largest at a single location. Fifteen residents and an undisclosed number of workers have tested positive at a veterans nursing home in Lebanon, while OHSU Hospital on Monday said 12 of its staff have tested positive.
Regency Park secured tests from a lab on the East Coast for analysis, said Tom Stanley, a founder of Cascade Living Group, which owns and operates the Washington County facility.
Stanley encouraged operators of other senior care centers to beginning lining up access to tests now, so they're prepared if or when an outbreak hits.
"I would be scouring every source that I have to grab test kits, PPE, foggers, paper products," he said.
He also said it's important for operators of senior care centers to understand the responsibility will fall to them — not government officials. Stanley asked the Washington County health department to test all residents and staff at Regency Park, near Beaverton, but was turned down by the Oregon Health Authority.
The Oregon Health Authority previously said it was reserving tests for outbreaks in senior facilities but reversed course as more private testing came online and more Oregonians have been hospitalized, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported last week.
This Oregonian/OregonLive story is shared as part of a local media project to increase COVID-19 news coverage.
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