A COVID-19 outbreak has infected at least 16 people at a Port Orchard nursing home, Kitsap Public Health officials reported Wednesday. 

Nine residents and seven employees at Life Care Center of Port Orchard have tested positive for COVID-19, the nursing home said in a statement Wednesday, in what’s become the largest outbreak at a long-term care facility in Kitsap County. 

The first case, according to the Kitsap Public Health District, was reported Aug. 21. Since then, the nursing home has notified residents, employees and family members, Kitsap Public Health officials said. 

“Kitsap Public Health continues to work closely with the facility to respond to the outbreak and prevent additional illness,” health district spokesperson Tad Sooter said in an email. 

Out of the nine residents affected by the outbreak, one person has been transferred to “a local hospital for a higher level of care,” Life Care Center officials said in the statement. Five residents who tested positive for the virus are currently in an isolated section of the facility, while three residents have now recovered. 

All but two of the nursing home’s employees have recovered, according to Life Care Center. Those two employees will not return to work until they meet the guidelines set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

Life Care Center officials said its residents are monitored multiple times a day for symptoms, and all employees are screened when they arrive for work and leave, which includes temperature checks and symptom monitoring.  

“Our facility is a family, and we’re all working together to take care of our residents and each other,” Amanda Lanser, the nursing home’s executive director, said in the statement. “We understand the virus is still a very real problem, and we remain vigilant.” 

Lanser said the nursing home will continue to work with the Washington State Department of Health and Kitsap Public Health District and follow any guidance health officials provide.

There have been 16 COVID-19 outbreaks at long-term care facilities in Kitsap County to date, including four active outbreaks. There have been 48 cases linked to those outbreaks, according to the Kitsap Public Health District, which started a new weekly report of outbreaks on Wednesday. 

No other outbreak at long-term care facilities has exceeded nine cases in Kitsap County, according to Kitsap Public Health; the next largest outbreak infected seven people. Sooter said the health district will list the location of outbreaks at long-term care facilities when they involve 10 or more cases. 

An outbreak at a long-term care or residential living facility is defined by the state Department of Health as one or more residents or workers who have tested positive for COVID-19. Outbreaks are considered closed when no new cases have been reported in 28 days, according to Kitsap Public Health. 

The situation at Life Care Center in Port Orchard comes on the heels of a major outbreak at St. Michael Medical Center, which has infected 73 people at the Bremerton hospital since early August. With no new cases linked to that outbreak since early September, St. Michael officials expressed optimism last week that the hospital has largely contained the virus.  

In early March, another Life Care Center facility, a nursing home in Kirkland, was among the first and deadliest COVID-19 outbreaks in the country. Forty-six deaths have been linked to that facility to date, according to Public Health — Seattle & King County. 

Austen Macalus is the Kitsap Sun’s social services reporter — covering health care, homelessness and how programs are serving people living in poverty. He can be reached at [email protected] or 360-536-6423. 

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