More nursing home COVID-19 deaths, new facility with virus. Tulare, Fresno County cases grow
Three more patients at skilled nursing facilities in Tulare County have died from coronavirus, health officials said Monday.
Fresno County on Monday also announced that its ninth COVID-19 death was a nursing home resident.
In addition, another Tulare County nursing home is reporting COVID-19 cases for the first time: Sierra Valley Rehab Center in Porterville. It has 12 residents and one staff member with coronavirus, health officials said.
The newly confirmed COVID-19 deaths: One more resident at Redwood Springs Healthcare Center in Visalia (26 deaths total), and two more at Lindsay Gardens Nursing and Rehabilitation Facility in Lindsay (three deaths total).
Fresno County reported its eighth COVID-19 death on Friday was also a nursing home resident. Vohra said the county’s eighth and ninth COVID-19 fatalities died in hospitals and did not share what nursing homes they had lived in. None of the county’s previous seven COVID-19 deaths were nursing home residents, but some were also elderly, Vohra said Monday afternoon.
In response to a question about whether a death was at its facility, a spokesman at Dycora Transitional Health & Living-Fresno (located downtown) said he couldn’t comment, citing patient privacy and government regulations.
A spokesman at the Dycora-Manchester facility, which also has coronavirus cases, said its facility has no COVID-19 deaths.
There have been 644 resident deaths at skilled nursing facilities across California, and 11 health care worker deaths, from coronavirus, looking at data through Friday, according to the state. These facilities are the deadliest hotspots in the coronavirus pandemic.
Nursing home cases grow in Tulare, Fresno counties
Redwood Springs – among the first in the state to report cases – has one of the worst outbreaks.
Since last week, in addition to the newly confirmed deaths, one more Redwood Springs resident tested positive for COVID-19 (116 total), along with eight more staff members (69 total) and 12 others (20 total). Of those, 41 have reportedly recovered.
Tulare County health officials on Monday also shared more new cases at other facilities:
One more resident with COVID-19 at Lindsay Gardens (62 total), along with five more staff (22 total) and four others (12 total).
Sixteen more residents at Dinuba Healthcare (18 total) and its first staff member.
Linwood Meadows – which, like Redwood Springs, is owned by the Plum Corporation – reported numbers staying the same, 11 residents with coronavirus and one staff member.
Cases also grew at skilled nursing facilities in Fresno County.
There are 19 more patients with coronavirus at Dycora Transitional Health & Living-Fresno (21 total) and five more staff there with the virus (nine total), a spokesman for the facility said Monday.
Dycora-Manchester previously reported 12 patients with coronavirus. A spokesman for that facility said the numbers hadn’t changed on Monday.
Fresno County health officials reported nursing homes with coronavirus for the first time last week, on Tuesday, confirming 16 coronavirus cases between the two Dycora facilities. As of midday Monday, officials hadn’t provided new facility numbers since then.
The state also previously reported Dycora-Sanger with fewer than 11 coronavirus cases. A Dycora spokesman said one staff member there tested positive for COVID-19. The state now shows that facility’s data as not available, which “indicates a facility did not report its data.”
A Dycora spokesman said no other Dycora Transitional Health & Living facilities in the area had coronavirus cases on Monday.
A spokesman at The Terraces at San Joaquin Gardens in north Fresno previously said there was one resident and one staff with coronavirus (both recovered), and no new cases there on Monday.
Concerns with reporting data
County officials have declined to share COVID-19 case counts for some facilities with cases fewer than 11, citing privacy concerns, or to announce new facilities with cases.
Yet, in other cases, they have provided counts for those with cases initially under 11 – including Linwood Meadow’s first outbreak, and cases at Dycora facilities.
Others have been discovered on the state’s list of skilled nursing facilities, which is usually a couple days behind in data. When Twin Oaks Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Tulare County appeared on that list with cases last week (it now shows none) Weyker-Adkins said she couldn’t comment about that or other “isolated cases at several area skilled nursing facilities that are now beyond the 14-day quarantine period.”
In Fresno County, health officials have not mentioned previous cases at The Terraces, reported to The Fresno Bee from a spokesman for that facility.
The state list on Monday showed a number of skilled nursing facilities in the central San Joaquin Valley not reporting, as of data available through Friday. There are nine currently “N/A” in Fresno County, four not reporting in Tulare County, and one not reporting in Madera County.
County officials said skilled nursing facilities are required to report data to both the county and the state.
Weyker-Adkins said Monday that her office and the state continue to work closely with Tulare County nursing homes – investigating cases and providing them with direction and protocol to slow the spread of COVID-19.
“The positive residents are separated and isolated from those who are negative,” she said. “Residents and staff are tested for the virus, but there are instances where asymptomatic individuals may spread the virus prior to testing or initially have a negative result. Following proper infection protection and PPE protocol is the best way to contain the virus. Reinforcing those guidelines for strict adherence is the best defense in containing the virus.”
Weyker-Adkins didn’t share insight into how coronavirus cases got so large at some Tulare County facilities. The Los Angeles Times quoted an anonymous Redwood Springs nurse in a story Saturday about that: “We weren’t prepared,” said the nurse, who has tested positive. “We lost control of the situation because we weren’t talking about it.”
This story was originally published May 4, 2020 at 2:05 PM.
