5 Spokane veterans cared for at VA Medical Center test positive for COVID-19; none hospitalized
Five Spokane County veterans enrolled to receive care at the Mann-Grandstaff VA Medical Center have been diagnosed with COVID-19 as of Thursday. But none of those patients is currently hospitalized at the medical center, according to facility spokesperson Bret Bowers.
Four of them received outpatient treatment and are isolating at home, Bowers said. The fifth was admitted to the hospital for care but has since been discharged.
The medical center has tested about 120 of its enrolled veterans, according to Bowers. Facility officials were unable to immediately confirm how many enrolled veterans were awaiting test results Thursday evening.
In Western Washington, 34 veterans affiliated with the federally run Puget Sound Health Care System also have COVID-19, and eight of them were admitted to the hospital for care, according to the federal department.
Two residents and one employee at the Spokane Veterans Home – which is run by the Washington Department of Veterans Affairs and not the federal organization – have tested positive for COVID-19. Both residents were cared for by a caregiver who had contracted the coronavirus but was asymptomatic and awaiting a test result.
One of the residents – who had already been in end-of-life care prior to the COVID-19 diagnosis – died Wednesday.
Bowers said he can’t track whether veterans enrolled at the facility are also residents of the Spokane Veterans Home.
The Mann-Grandstaff VA Medical Center in Spokane has been preparing for an influx of COVID-19 patients for about a month, Bowers said. Those efforts have included creating additional capacity and planning for how to effectively isolate COVID-19 patients from the general hospital population.
“If and when we do get a patient surge, we prepared the hospital for that,” Bowers said.