Westmoreland Manor employees to get hazard pay as coronavirus testing continues

Workers at Westmoreland Manor are getting extra pay while the coronavirus pandemic surges through the county-owned nursing home and state officials struggle with contact tracing.

Commissioner Sean Kertes said union and nonunion employees at the Hempfield facility will get hazard pay as six Pennsylvania National Guard members continue to help with testing for virus infections. Commissioner Doug Chew said the pay will start from the date the first resident was found to have the virus until 14 days after the most recent positive resident.

Twenty residents and two staffers tested positive Sept. 19 during routine testing. Since then, a total of 47 residents and 23 employees have tested positive for the virus, said Commissioner Gina Cerilli. The National Guard was requested on Thursday to take over testing of staff and residents and six members arrived Sunday. Guard members will present an evaluation and recommendation to the commissioners after the test results are back, she said.

“We welcome any help that we can get, and we’d certainly encourage them to stay,” Cerilli said “The staff has told us they’ve been very helpful. Prior to the Guard coming in, it was management staff doing the testing, and now the Guard is not just doing the testing, but are able to step in and help out with other things that need done so that staff can focus on the residents.”

Cerilli said the first person to test positive at the manor was a nurse from a contract service.

The surge in infections at the nursing home came as new covid-19 cases in the county began trending upward, from 79 new cases the first full week of September to 96 new cases last week. That happened as statewide numbers slipped slightly from 5,188 to to 5,070 during the same period.

State officials said it has been difficult to determine whether travel, parties or specific large gatherings in the prior 14 days played a role in the local surge.

State health department spokesman Nate Wardle said contact tracing used to track the spread of the virus and identify sites of transmission has been hampered by a lack of response among those who have tested positive for covid-19. Fewer than half of those contacted responded when asked what type of businesses or large gathering they attended in the prior 14 days, Wardle said.

“It is essential that people answer the phone when case investigators call and to provide full and complete information to these clinical professionals. It is important to remember that people often come from all over to attend a large gathering and, since cases are identified by county of residence, a case from a large gathering may not be located in the county of the gathering,” Wardle said in an email.

Officials have cautioned that attending indoor gatherings of 25 people or more without social distancing or crowded outdoor gatherings of more than 250 can set the stage for virus transmission.

Although there have been no reports pinpointing any specific large gatherings as contributing to spikes in infection, last Friday, Gov. Tom Wolf underscored concerns about such gatherings when he asked President Donald Trump to curtail large campaign rallies like the ones held recently at the Arnold Palmer Regional Airport and Pittsburgh International Airport.

That request failed to have any impact on the rally that attracted thousands of Trump supporters at Harrisburg International Airport a day later.

County officials expect to get an update on Wednesday with the latest testing results at the Manor and will decide if the National Guard’s continued presence is needed. Residents who test positive are moved to a designated unit and employees are required to quarantine at home.

The 408-bed nursing home had no reported cases of corona­virus among residents before this month. Four employees, including two administrators, tested positive prior to the current outbreak.

County officials are scouring for personal protective equipment because 8,400 gowns are being used daily at the Manor, which has 336 residents and a staff of more than 400.

The commissioners on Monday approved a new agreement with Maximum Healthcare Staffing Services for one year.

“We’re just trying to make sure that the Manor has every possible access to staff that they need,” Chew said.

An addendum to a second agreement outlines a new pay schedule that runs from Sept. 22 to Oct. 10 with Dedicated Nursing Associates, which has contracted with the manor for years. Workers will get $15 more per hour during that time frame.

Workers at the Manor previously got hazard pay between March 18 and 27.