Lutheran Home employee tests positive for coronavirus

Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau has reported a case of COVID-19.

According to the facility’s website, one employee has tested positive. The facility’s website states it has an average of 389 employees.

The website states 15 employees have tested negative.

No residents of either the skilled nursing or assisted living facilities have tested positive for the virus. Two hundred residents live in the skilled nursing facility, and 13 have tested negative. Seventy residents live in the assisted living facility.

Lutheran Home officials did not respond to a request for more information Thursday.

Virus outbreaks in Sikeston, Missouri, and Dexter, Missouri, have also been reported.

Case counts grow in region

Three counties in the region reported multiple new virus cases Thursday.

Cape Girardeau County Public Health Center reported three new cases, pushing the county’s confirmed case number to 72. The county is reporting 24 “probable” cases as well. Seventy-two county residents have recovered from the virus. Thirty-seven of the cases are in Cape Girardeau, while 31 are in Jackson and 28 are elsewhere in the county.

Scott County officials reported four new cases and the county’s ninth death attributed to the disease. There are 98 virus cases in the county, and 68 county residents have recovered from the virus.

In Illinois, Southern Seven Health Department reported five new cases in Union County, bringing the number of cases in the county to 148. According to the Illinois Department of Public Health’s website, the cases are mainly in the Anna area, though six cases are in the Jonesboro ZIP code. Eight Union County residents have died from the virus.

No new cases were reported in Stoddard (76), Perry (49) or Bollinger (6) counties in Missouri or Alexander County (8) in Illinois.