As the state prepares to reopen day care centers, officials announced that four workers at Kanawha County facilities have tested positive for coronavirus.
Each works at a separate facility. Two of those facilities, Oakhurst First Presbyterian Child Development Center in South Charleston, and Morris Enrichment Center in Charleston have been closed because of the pandemic and will remain closed until further notice.
Facilities that were already open with employees testing positive include Fort Hill Child Development Center and the West Virginia National Guard Child Development Center.
“We do not intend to close the day care facilities,” Kanawha-Charleston Health Officer Sherri Young said during a Wednesday afternoon news conference.
However, the National Guard later sent out its own statement saying the child development center will be closed for cleaning.
Young said additional precautions will be taken for each facility, including contact tracing of children and families.
Parents have been notified, Young said, and children were sent home from the two open centers Wednesday afternoon. Young said families should make their children’s physicians aware of the possible exposure.
“The day care centers are working with the parents to try to figure out if they were in the room with them,” Young said.
Young said each child’s physician should make the decision in conjunction with parents regarding the need for testing. She said the local health department would do testing.
Young said she relates to the concern of parents.
“As a parent, I understand. It’s your child.”
The four day care workers with positive test results were identified through weekend drive-through testing by the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department. More than 200 tests were performed on Saturday and Sunday.
Young said the rest of staff at day cares should be tested. Appointments for testing may be made by calling the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department’s coronavirus hotline at 304-348-1088.
After a thorough cleaning and testing of employees, Young said, the centers may be able to reopen as early as next week.
Young said health department plans to continue to test day care workers, as the governor has directed.
“I think testing the day cares is a wonderful idea,” she said.
Gov. Jim Justice described the positive tests at the Kanawha day cares during a briefing earlier Wednesday. He described the day care workers as asymptomatic, as many people who have the coronavirus are.
The governor, whose guidelines for easing restrictions had already called for the testing of day care workers, said “It will be mandatory that all daycare staff be tested.”
He said that would be reflected in an executive order that would also call for testing of staff and residents of assisted living facilities.
Adjutant Gen. James Hoyer noted that one of the affected facilities is the West Virginia National Guard Child Development Center.
“So we are taking the appropriate action. That individual is isolated,” Hoyer said, adding that the facility will be subject to a deep cleaning.
Kanawha County Commissioner Ben Salango praised the professionalism of day care center personnel in addressing the outbreak.
“It’s my understanding from health department officials the day care workers were already wearing masks and taking necessary precautions,” Salango said.
“When they were notified of a positive worker, the day care workers were most concerned about the safety of the children in their care. KCHD was proactive in testing Day Care workers and began that testing on Friday, as a result we were able to identify four positive Day Care workers and immediately protect our children.”
Salango is running in the Democratic primary for governor.
When Justice was asked at today’s state coronavirus briefing about the possibility of Kanawha County shutting down the day cares, he seemed to allude to the political race.
“I hope and pray this is not another political stunt to draw relevance to you and everything,” Justice said. “I hope and pray this is not just more politics.”
Asked about those remarks by reporters after today’s briefing, Justice said, “We didn’t just roll off the pickle truck.”
On the order for statewide testing of assisted living facilities, Justice received a statement of support from the West Virginia Health Care Association, which represents long-term care facilities.
“As with the statewide testing in nursing homes, West Virginia will be the first in the nation to implement statewide testing of all assisted living residents and staff,” stated Mary Wright, director of the association.
“As we saw with nursing homes, the testing of all residents and staff is key to identifying and isolating the virus before it has a chance to spread. This is especially true now that we know a significant number of those that test positive are asymptomatic.”