The Kittitas County Public Health Department (KCPHD) and the Kittitas County Incident Management Team (IMT) will continue to prioritize efforts around long term care facilities (LTCF), high risk populations in our county, and efforts to safely reopen schools in the fall if possible.
At this time, the majority of our efforts are directed at the multiple concurring outbreaks occurring in our long term care facilities. Currently Prestige Post-Acute Rehab, Pacifica, and Meadows are all responding to COVID-19. In addition, a staff person is positive for COVID-19 at Prestige Hearthstone and our IMT will be mass testing the Hearthstone facility this week in addition to retesting of patients and residents at the Prestige Post-Acute location.
LTCF residents are considered high risk populations and there are other people who are at high risk that live in our community. Residents who are pregnant, immune compromised, or 65 years of age and older should continue to stay home as much as possible. We continue to ask our community to take prevention steps to keep high risk people safe – stay home when you are sick, wash your hands frequently, maintain physical distance, and wear a cloth face covering.
We also have ongoing efforts to safely open schools; however, in order to open schools, we may be required to have a positive COVID-19 percentage rate lower than 5%. To date, our percentage rate of positive cases in Kittitas County is 21.8% and our community must continue to work to lower that rate.
Everyone is affected by this pandemic. Please take steps to be aware of and care for your mental well-being. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), taking care of your emotional health during an emergency will help you think clearly and react to the urgent needs to protect yourself and your family. Self-care during an emergency will help your long-term healing.
If you have questions about your health, please contact your healthcare provider or you can call the Temporary COVID Clinic at KVH at 509-933-8850. If you are having a medical emergency, call 911 or go to the Emergency Department at KVH. If you have general questions about COVID-19, please call the EOC at 509-933-8315 or 509-933-8305.
