Multiple Butler County long-term care facilities have ongoing COVID-19 outbreaks, both likely brought on by recent rises in community cases.

According to data released Wednesday by the Pennsylvania Department of Health, Quality Life Services in Chicora and Sarver both have outbreaks. The Chicora location has added 25 resident cases and 17 staff cases since last week's report. Sarver has added 27 resident cases and between one and four cases among staff.

“It was identified through our regular testing,” said Steve Tack, CEO of Quality Life Services. “We've been able to isolate those who are positive, who are questionably positive and those who are COVID free.”

Lutheran SeniorLife also self-reported an outbreak at its St. John campus in Mars. The location has added 38 cases among residents and nine cases among staff over the past two weeks.

“Anybody who tests positive is quarantined and handled with extreme caution,” said Mark O'Donnell, communication specialist for Lutheran SeniorLife. “We believe we've done everything we possibly could do to mitigate the circumstances to the best of our ability.”

Both organizations have cited increasing community spread as the likely cause for the outbreaks in their facilities.

Butler County has averaged about 26 new confirmed cases daily in the past two weeks. In the month of September, the county averaged about eight new confirmed cases daily.

“As community case counts have risen, I think it was inevitable that inadvertently someone (carries) it into our building,” said Tack.

According to state Department of Health data, 20 Butler County long-term care facilities have reported at least one case of COVID-19. Long-term care facilities include both nursing homes managed by the Department of Health, and personal care homes managed by the Department of Human Services.

Despite split management, the Department of Health tracks data on all long-term care facilities with breakdowns at the county level. Thus far, 190 residents living in county facilities have contracted the virus, as have 52 employees of those facilities.

To date, eight deaths have been attributed to county long-term care facilities. The data does not show whether those deaths are residents or staff.

Regardless of the numbers, the outbreaks create a concern for these facilities moving forward.

Both Tack and O'Donnell said the outbreaks were revealed through routine testing and both showed significant numbers of cases immediately.

“Unfortunately, because of this illness and the ability to carry it without symptoms, it can get a significant foothold in a building before you even know it's there,” Tack said.

Both organizations have worked to isolate their sick and healthy populations from one another and continue routine testing to address further spread quickly.

O'Donnell said in recent months, his facility had allowed for some limited visitation of their residents, but due to the outbreak that will be halted for the time being.

He said an outbreak is never wanted, but his organization had anticipated it coming at some point.

“We've been preparing all summer for the expectation that once fall and winter hit ... we were not likely to be as COVID-free as we were for the first six months,” O'Donnell said.

In addition to testing, both companies have also doubled down on their PPE usage, cleaning and isolation protocols.

Tack said he expects the next few weeks to be difficult as the dust settles from the initial outbreak. He said after all cases are found and isolated, it will still be a number of weeks for treatments to resolve.

“The last week or so has definitely been a challenge, no doubt,” Tack said. “It's a shock and a challenge to the staff, but we have some good people and some people from other buildings who have (gone) through it already.”

As of Wednesday, both organizations have acknowledged recent deaths due to the virus, but could not give specific figures. The deaths were described as being in-patients who were either highly at-risk of developing serious symptoms or those who were in hospice care.

“We continue to communicate regularly with all our residents families,” Tack said. “We look forward to working through this horrible illness and coming out on the other side of it.”