News & Features

Six Deaths Reported Due to COVID-19 Outbreak at Brendan House

Fifty-four residents of KRH long-term facility have tested positive, in addition to staff

BY MYERS REECE // NOV 23, 2020

Six residents of Kalispell Regional Healthcare’s Brendan House have died due to a COVID-19 outbreak at the 110-bed long-term care facility, while 54 residents have tested positive for the disease altogether, as of Nov. 22.

It wasn’t immediately clear whether any of the Brendan House deaths were included in the Flathead City-County Health Department’s recent confirmation of three additional deaths in the county, or when all of the facility’s deaths will be officially registered, given the reporting lags between death and county confirmation.

The residents who have tested positive for COVID-19 are isolated in the Brendan House and are “being closely monitored and receiving appropriate care,” according to Kalispell Regional Healthcare (KRH).

The hospital said in an update that employee surveillance testing resulted in additional positive staff members on Nov. 18, although the total number of infected employees was not provided. KRH stated that positive staff members are immediately quarantined and remain “out of the facility until approved for return to work by the Flathead City-County Health Department and Employee Health Services.”

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