Liliha Healthcare Center clarifies number of patients with coronavirus sent to Wahiawa General Hospital

The Liliha Healthcare Center now says that it sent 15 residents who tested positive for the coronavirus to Wahiawa General Hospital following a major outbreak at the nursing home.

On Tuesday, the company said 17 residents who did not have COVID-19 were transferred to the hospital “out of an abundance of caution” over the weekend.

However, on Wednesday, the company clarified that it had transferred was 15 COVID-positive residents who were not showing symptoms to the Wahiawa hospital. Company officials did not explain the discrepancy.

The 92-bed Liliha nursing home, which had a total of 65 residents, is scrambling to contain a COVID-19 outbreak that has so far sickened 21 residents and six staff members.

It didn’t disclose how many employees are currently staffing the nursing home, which had to hire emergency workers because employees began taking leave once the coronavirus emerged, a spokesman said.

>> RELATED: Liliha Healthcare Center scrambles to contain COVID-19 outbreak

The coronavirus infiltrated the Liliha Healthcare Center after an employee tested positive on Sept. 16.

The center tested all residents and staff two days later and some of the results were returned positive on Sept. 20. The state Department of Health said it is investigating cases at the home.

Wahiawa General has established a 20-bed COVID-19 unit for patients who are stable and doing “relatively OK” to be isolated and cared for appropriately, said CEO Brian Cunningham.

“As we know in nursing homes this is a high-risk population,” he said. “It sometimes can be hard to isolate a patient population within a nursing home so we set up this unit specifically … (so) should a nursing home get hit with multiple COVID-19 cases, we would be in a position to help them by getting them out of their building.”