Kansas Coronavirus Death Involves Same Nursing Home Owner As Deadly Seattle Outbreak

The first person to die of COVID-19 in Kansas stayed at a long-term care facility in Wyandotte County owned by the national chain with a suburban Seattle facility tied to 22 deaths from the virus.

Friday’s news comes as Wichita reported its first case of the novel coronavirus, involving a man who had taken a Caribbean cruise. That brings the state’s total known cases to six.

Kansas Secretary of Health and Environment Lee Norman says the Wyandotte County man in his 70s who died Wednesday was staying at Life Care Center of Kansas City. It remains unclear how the virus reached the man, Norman said.

In a statement, the facility's owner said the man arrived there from Providence Medical Center in Kansas City, Kansas, on Feb. 25. The long-term care facility then sent him to a hospital on March 7 for care “entirely unrelated to symptoms or signs of COVID-19.”

Read more: https://www.kcur.org/post/kansas-coronavirus-death-involves-same-nursing-home-owner-deadly-seattle-outbreak