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COVID-19

3 more Spokane Veterans Home employees test positive for COVID-19

The number of Spokane Veterans Home employees who have tested positive for COVID-19 doubled on Friday, when three new cases were identified. (Liz Kishimoto / The Spokesman-Review)

Three more employees of the Spokane Veterans Home tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday, for a total of six cases among workers at the site of the area’s largest cluster of the respiratory disease.

No results from 21 new tests of residents were returned as of Friday evening. On Thursday, four new positives tests were announced, bringing the total number of resident cases to 23, including one death.

The home has 84 residents. Some have been tested more than once.

The home has 102 staff members who have been tested for COVID-19, with 18 negative results returned, according to the Department of Veteran Affairs. Results for 72 employees are pending.

The first case at the facility was an employee who was awaiting a COVID-19 test result and returned to work after three days without symptoms. The employee worked in the area of the nursing home where the first 19 cases and lone death occurred.

No residents or staff at other Washington Department of Veterans Affairs nursing homes had tested positive for COVID-19 as of Thursday. Those locations include facilities in Port Orchard, Orting and Walla Walla.