Tag Archives: Nursing homes

At least 18 infected at nursing facility in Vallejo

Health care workers are potentially in danger as well

Vallejo Times-Herald, By John Glidden, April 29, 2020
A healthcare worker takes a moment to get some fresh air at the Windsor Vallejo Care Center where at least 18residents have tested positive for COVID-19. CHRIS RILEY — TIMES-HERALD

Eighteen residents at the Windsor Vallejo Nursing and Rehabilitation Center have tested positive for COVID-19, according to the California Department of Health.

The skilled nursing facility also reported that health care workers at the facility have been infected as well.

Vallejo spokeswoman Christina Lee said on Tuesday that the Solano County Public Health Department and the county’s epidemiology team are overseeing operations at the facility after being notified of the infections last Friday.

“At that time, the confirmed number of cases was 12 residents with positive tests and four staff members with positive tests,” Lee wrote. “It’s not known how the virus reached this facility.”

That number increased to 18 residents infected on Monday in what officials are calling a cluster outbreak.

Solano County Public Health Administrator Jayleen Richards said Tuesday that the county is taking the cluster outbreak very seriously.

“We’ve been testing the staff and residents there,” she said. “We will be checking in with the facility each day.”

Richards said this is the county’s first cluster outbreak of COVID- 19.

Josh Sable, general counsel for Windsor Healthcare, told the Times-Herald Tuesday that there have been no deaths associated with the cluster outbreak at the care facility.

Sable didn’t respond to requests from this newspaper to provide the number of total infected residents and health care workers at the Vallejo facility.

“Windsor Vallejo Care Center has experienced a slight increase in the number of residents diagnosed with COVID-19, but a decrease in the number of infected employees,” he wrote in a prepared statement to this newspaper. “Rest assured, since the onset of this pandemic, Windsor’s clinical team has been collaborating closely with local, state and federal authorities, as well as the facility’s medical director. Nothing is more important to us than providing a safe environment for our residents and team members.”

Lee said the facility has created an isolation wing for residents who have been confirmed positive.

“They are placed in a specific wing of the facility to receive care from nurses/staff that do not provide care to patients in the other wings of the facility to help slow the spread,” she explained.

Sable said employees are screened at the start of each shift for symptoms of COVID-19, “including daily temperature checks and completion of a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)-compliant screening questionnaire. Employees who show signs of illness are asked to leave immediately and isolate at home.”

He also stated that visits to the facility have been restricted, while staff have increased sanitation “of frequently-touched surfaces.”

“We have ample supplies of personal protective equipment,” Sable said.

According to the state, eight other Solano County care facilities have reported no COVID-19 infections of residents or staff members.

Contact reporter John Glidden at 707-553-6832.

Vallejo Nursing Home infected with COVID-19, only skilled nursing facility in Solano County as of April 24

By Roger Straw, April 28, 2020

The national crisis in our nursing homes is real and present here in Solano County.

Windsor Vallejo Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, Vallejo CA

On April 20, we reported that the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) released a “snapshot” listing of all known skilled nursing facilities reporting COVID-19 among staff or residents.  The list did not include any facilities in Solano County at that time.

As of April 24, the State updated the report, and shows one nursing home in Solano County that was/is dealing with the infection.

Of nine Solano skilled nursing facilities listed, only the Windsor Vallejo Nursing and Rehabilitation Center showed evidence of the coronavirus.  As of April 24, 11 residents and less than 11 staff tested positive.

Windsor Vallejo’s website does an excellent job of sharing extensive information about coronavirus, but does not disclose numbers of positive or active cases.  It leaves unanswered whether any of Solano County’s reported deaths took anyone at their facility.

The State’s “24-hour snapshot” on April 24 showed California’s confirmed active cases in 662 skilled health care workers and ​1,899 nursing care residents.  The cumulative total of cases in the State as of April 24 were 2,329 nursing home health care workers and  3,441 nursing home residents.  Cumulative deaths in the State as of April 24 include less than 11 skilled health care workers and 545 nursing home residents.

Solano Nursing Homes do not appear in State’s “snapshot” of homes with COVID-19 – good news?

By Roger Straw, April 20, 2020
Gateway Care & Rehabilitation Center, Hayward CA | KTVU.com

In light of news reports of serious regional [SF Chron] and national [Washington Post] outbreaks of COVID-19 in long term care facilities, we have been listening intently for information about Solano County nursing homes and congregate retirement facilities, without much luck.

On Friday, April 17, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) released a “snapshot” listing of all known skilled nursing facilities reporting COVID-19 among staff or residents.  The list did not include any facilities in Solano County.  No news is good news, presumably.

However, according to the CDPH, the data is incomplete.  “The data is comprised of a point in time snapshot of the 86% of SNFs [skilled nursing facilities] who reported their data within the last 24 hours.”

It is possible that Solano facilities are among the 14% of California facilities who did not report during that time frame.

There are 1224 skilled nursing facilities in California.  In Friday’s CDPH listing, 258 reported having one or more COVID-19 case.

In an April 17 newsletter, Solano County Public Health stated “Solano Public Health staff is checking in with long-term care facilities and skilled nursing homes to ensure that these agencies are prepared to handle outbreaks and that seniors continue to be protected.”  It is not clear whether County officials plan to share publicly what they find.

California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform (CANHR) does an excellent job of describing the missing elements in the State’s report:

California Identifies 261 Nursing Homes with Residents and Staff Who Have COVID-19
What Data’s Missing; What Action is Needed Now?

Excerpt:
“It is critical that California start treating outbreaks in long term care facilities with the same urgency it does for wildfires. The state should deploy multi-agency strike teams that have command of all available public and private resources to every facility with an outbreak and appoint commanders to lead efforts to save residents lives and to keep the public well informed about their actions and outcomes on a daily basis.

“Beyond containing tragedies, California officials must do much more to prevent them. […continued]

Medicare identifies 9 nursing homes in Solano County, 4 in Fairfield, 3 in Vallejo and 2 in Vacaville.  Other types of long-term health care facilities are listed on the CDPH’s Cal Health Find Database.

Perhaps the best listing of congregant retirement facilities in Solano County is a simple Google search for retirement communities in solano county.

California Identifies 261 Nursing Homes with Residents and Staff Who Have COVID-19

What Data’s Missing; What Action is Needed Now?

California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform (CANHR), April 18, 2020

Californians finally got a partial glimpse of COVID-19’s epidemic impact within the state’s nursing homes on April 17th when state officials released an incomplete list of nursing homes that have residents or staff who are infected with the virus. Released on a Friday evening, the list identifies 261 nursing homes that have reported COVID-19 infections involving either a resident or a staff member. In total, those facilities reported that 1,740 residents and 1,290 workers have tested positive for COVID-19.

Most likely, many nursing homes with COVID-19 outbreaks are not included on the state’s list. Some facilities are in the dark about the presence of the virus due to lack of testing. Other nursing homes are not on the list because they have failed to report outbreaks. California has no system to ensure that nursing homes are reporting outbreaks as required. Even Magnolia Rehabilitation and Nursing Center, the Riverside nursing home that had all 83 of its residents evacuated last week due to a major outbreak, is not on the list.

The state’s reporting system has other gaping holes. The newly published list gives no information on the rapidly escalating death toll in California nursing homes, no information on outbreaks in assisted living facilities and no information on any facilities in Kern, Fresno and other counties.

What Does the List Tell Us about the Safety of California Nursing Home Residents?

California nursing home residents are in grave danger right now. Despite its limitations, the state’s list identifies nearly 50 California nursing homes that have between 11 and 91 residents who are infected with the virus. Many nursing homes are woefully unprepared to keep residents safe due to their lack of leadership, staff, testing, attention to infection control protocols, personal protective equipment and other resources.

Actions Needed Now to Save Residents’ Lives in California

Public health officials throughout the world have expressed alarm that COVID-19 spreads like wildfire in long term care facilities. It is critical that California start treating outbreaks in long term care facilities with the same urgency it does for wildfires. The state should deploy multi-agency strike teams that have command of all available public and private resources to every facility with an outbreak and appoint commanders to lead efforts to save residents lives and to keep the public well informed about their actions and outcomes on a daily basis.

Beyond containing tragedies, California officials must do much more to prevent them. First and foremost, the state should order long term care facilities without COVID-19 patients not to admit outside patients with infectious COVID-19. Equally important, the state should assign a CDPH surveyor to conduct daily onsite monitoring visits at each facility with residents or staff who have COVID-19 and at each facility with a history of poor care to ensure infection control practices and staffing levels are safe and to sound the alarm on the need for immediate intervention if they are not. CANHR’s Emergency Action Plan to Save Lives of Residents of California Long Term Care Facilities gives other critically important recommendations.