KIRKLAND, Wash. _ Four additional residents from Life Care Center of Kirkland have been hospitalized and four more have left the nursing home at the center of the coronavirus outbreak in the U.S. for other reasons.
Only 55 residents remain at the post-acute care center, which had 120 residents as of Feb. 19, Life Care spokesman Tim Killian said at a Sunday news conference.
At least 13 Life Care residents who have died after being taken to hospitals have tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, Killian said.
That tally didn't include two additional deaths reported shortly before Life Care's news conference Sunday by Public Health � Seattle & King County, Killian said.
"We are trying to verify that," he said.
Killian's tally also didn't include the death of a person identified by Public Health as a Life Care visitor.
State health officials confirmed 123 novel coronavirus cases in Washington, including 18 deaths, as of Sunday afternoon.
Of the state's 18 confirmed fatalities, 16 have been associated with Life Care Center, a King County public health statement said.
King County has seen 83 cases and 17 deaths, and Snohomish County has seen 31 cases and one death, according to the Department of Health's most recent numbers. Pierce County has reported four cases, and one case has been reported each in Grant, Jefferson, Clark, Kittitas and Spokane counties.
The two Life Care residents to die most recently were a woman in her 80s and a man in his 90s, according to Public Health.
Eleven additional Life Care residents have died in the facility since Feb. 19 but the nursing home doesn't know whether their deaths were related to COVID-19, Killian said.
Life Care has received enough test kits to test every patient still in the nursing home and has completed 44 tests, leaving 11 to still be completed, Killian said.
No results from the 44 completed tests have yet been reported back to Life Care, he said. Six current residents have COVID-19 symptoms, he said.
As he reported Saturday, Killian said Sunday that 70 of 180 Life Care employees have symptoms. Three have been hospitalized, he said in an update.
"We feel like we're still in triage mode," Killian said.
Life Care employees have adequate equipment and supplies, thanks to deliveries by various public agencies.
Cathleen Lombard, a nurse who usually works at Life Care's Puyallup nursing home but has been helping out at the Kirkland facility, said some residents are struggling emotionally, while others are dealing with dementia.
The residents are quarantined in their rooms and have been unable to take showers in recent days because they don't have showers in their rooms, she said.
Kirkland's Northshore Community Church sent flowers to the residents, Lombard said.
The nurse said she and other employees are wearing gowns, masks and face shields while caring for residents. Because Life Care has enacted a no-visitors policy, some relatives have been peering in windows to see their loved ones, Lombard said.
