Tri-Cities events are canceled and nursing homes restrict visitors as coronavirus worries spread

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There is a good chance that the novel coronavirus is circulating in Benton and Franklin counties already, according to the bi-county health district.

To date there have been no confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus and no people under investigation, according to Benton Franklin Health District.

But with COVID-19 spreading rapidly through Washington state and just across the Oregon state line it likely already is here, and organizations in the Tri-Cities have started canceling events.

Some senior care homes in the Tri-Cities are restricting visitors, the health district is offering advice to doctors and residents and one of the largest Tri-Cities employers is offering to let workers telecommute.

The Wildhorse Casino, which closed Monday for deep cleaning because of an ill employee, had yet to reopen Tuesday afternoon.

Nine deaths had been reported from COVID-19 in Washington state as of early Tuesday afternoon, with at least four of the deaths linked to Life Care, a nursing home in the Seattle suburb of Kirkland.

An additional 27 people are confirmed ill with the coronavirus in the state.

Renaissance fair canceled

Because of the novel coronavirus, there will be no Ye Merrie Greenwood Renaissance Faire this year in the Tri-Cities, and Meals on Wheels has canceled one of its largest fundraising events of the year.

“We feel it is incumbent upon us to follow the recommendations of the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) and Washington state Department of Health, indicating that people should avoid large crowds to help prevent the spread of the virus,” said Kristi Thien, nutrition services director for Mid-Columbia Meals on Wheels.

It has planned its annual breakfast fundraiser for March 10. The nonprofit receives just 40 percent of its money to provide meals for seniors from the government and must raise the rest.

“We don’t wish to panic or overreact to the impact of coronavirus, but we want to act responsibly by protecting our vulnerable senior population, or supporters and our sponsors,” Thien said.

Ye Merrie Greenwood Renaissance Faire was scheduled in September at Columbia Park in Kennewick.

But given deaths from the coronavirus and no reasonable way to protect its audience from the virus, the organization postponed its Tri-Cities event until 2021, the organization announced Wednesday.

It cited Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infections Diseases, who said that the coronavirus has “now reached outbreak proportions and likely pandemic proportions.”

The annual fair has about 6,000 participants, making it one of the larger renaissance fairs.

Canceling this year’s event now gives acts and vendors for the Kennewick fair time to find other bookings, possibly at small events, said Marjorie Kunigisky, president of Ye Merrie Greenwood Players.

Although the well being of participants was the main concern leading to the cancellation, the organization also could not risk investing thousands of dollars to put on the fair only to have a local or state recommendation that large gatherings be canceled closer to the date of the fair.

Any donations already collected for the 2020 fair should be held for the fair’s return, Kunigisky said.

Casino remained closed

In Oregon, Wildhorse Resort and Casino remained closed Tuesday for sanitizing after being closed Monday when an employee tested positive for coronavirus and was hospitalized in Walla Walla over the weekend.

The employee was recovering, Umatilla County Public Health said Tuesday afternoon. Three close contacts of the employee also were being tested for coronavirus, with samples sent to a Washington state laboratory, it said.

The resort was closed out of an abundance of caution, said tribal leaders.

The ill person works in a secure area of the casino and did not have contact with the public as part of their job, said Chuck Sams, spokesman for the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, which owns the casino.

The closure, which began midday Monday, includes the hotel, convention center, movie theater, children’s center and the restaurants.

The tribes’ Nixyaawii Education Center, a charter of the Pendleton School District, remained closed Tuesday and there was no community school, Head Start, day care or after school programs.

A deep cleaning was expected to be finished to allow the center to reopen on Wednesday.

Umatilla County residents can call 211 for more questions regarding COVID-19.

‘Worried well’ in Tri-Cities

The Benton Franklin Health District was receiving many questions from both health providers and the public on the novel coronavirus, said Heather Hill, the district’s communicable disease program supervisor.

It was directing people with questions to the Washington State Department of Health’s call center set up to address questions from the public about what is happening in Washington state, how the virus is spread and what to do if you have symptoms. Call 800-525-0127 and press #.

The district is sending frequent updates and messages to health care providers in Benton and Franklin county, including alerting them of information seminars for specific groups, including nursing home providers.

Public calls ranged from the “worried well” to people with symptoms such as fever and coughing who were concerned that they had not been tested for COVID-19, Hill said.

The Washington state Department of Health laboratory is doing the only testing in Washington state. Because of its limited capabilities, only the very ill are tested, Hill said.

People with fever, cough and shortness of breath two to 14 days after exposure to a person known to have COVID-19 or has those symptoms after traveling to certain countries should call a health care provider, the Centers for Disease Control said. The countries are China, Iran, Italy, South Korea and Japan.

Those with symptoms similar to a common cold should stay home and avoid exposing others, including the elderly and people of any age with an ongoing health condition that makes them vulnerable, hill said.

Treatment is similar to a cold — lots of rest, drinking plenty of fluids and taking a fever reducer like acetaminophen or ibuprofen — because most colds are a different kind of coronavirus, Hill said.

Some 98 to 99 percent of people can expect the novel coronavirus to run is course in a few days “and they will be fine,” Hill said.

People with symptoms that match coronavirus who are sick enough to need to see a health care provider or go to a walk-in clinic or emergency department, should call ahead so steps can be taken to meet them and not expose them to other patients waiting for care.

Nursing homes and coronavirus

Life Care Center, where patients died near Seattle, also has nursing homes in Richland and Kennewick.

Its corporate headquarters is sharing updates and best practices with the local homes, many of which are used anytime there is an infections outbreak of an illness in a community.

Posted on the door of the Kennewick Life Care is a request to delay visits if family members or friends have flu or cold symptoms and commonly touched surfaces are being wiped down frequently.

Staff are talking with visitors about good hand hygiene, such as washing hands frequently, not touching their face, and covering their nose and mouth when they sneeze and then washing their hands.

Other retirement, assisted living and dementia care centers were going a step further and discouraging visits from people other than health care providers to protect their residents from infection.

Those owned by JEA Senior Living were asking family members to Skype or phone residents, said Robert Ogilvie, administrator of Royal Columbian Retirement Inn in Kennewick, which has independent living apartments and assisted living care.

But they were making some exceptions, including for a daughter who asked to take her mother for a drive on Tuesday. Employees brought the resident out to meet the daughter.

Many residents’ families have supported the visitation restrictions, knowing it will help protect the health of residents, Ogilvie said.

Ogilvie had a meeting with residents Tuesday afternoon to go over what they could each do to protect themselves, such as thorough and frequent handwashing.

“Our whole focus is prevention,” he said.

Other JEA Senior Living facilities in the Tri-Cities are Callaway Gardens Alzheimer’s Special Care Center in Kennewick and Tri-Cities Retirement Inn in Pasco.

In Grant County two different healthcare facilities had a single patient each who was being tested for COVID-19.

The cases did not appear to be related, according to the Grant County Health Department.

The healthcare workers involved in the care of one of the patients have been put into quarantine as a precaution. They are being told to stay home and have no contact with people outside their immediate families for 14 days while they are monitored for symptoms.

PNNL and Hanford

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, which has a staff of 4,700, has told its employees that in some cases they can telework if they are nervous about coming to the office.

It has asked staff to consider holding meetings electronically with Skype, or making attending via Skye an option for meetings with large numbers of participants.

It is following the guidelines set by the State Department and Department of Energy for business travel, restricting travel to China since early February and now telling staff to avoid non-essential travel to Italy and South Korea.

Hanford nuclear reservation officials sent a message to employees at the nuclear reservation Tuesday saying that, as always, people ill with flu-like symptoms should stay home to protect their coworkers and to speed recoveries. The site employs about 9,400 people plus some additional subcontractors.

Department of Energy employees at Hanford were asked to update their contact information and review telecommuting policies.

This story was originally published March 3, 2020 at 3:11 PM.