On Christmas Eve morning, a woman was outside the Escondido Post Acute Rehab, talking through a window with her 100-year-old mother, a resident of the establishment who was diagnosed with COVID-19.
The two women spoke on the phone for about 15 minutes, waving to each other while two health professionals wearing personal protective equipment worked in the room. The daughter said she was checking on her mother and trying to find out how she was after a positive test for the virus while recovering from a shoulder dislocation.
Last week, the nursing home won the distinction of having the largest active outbreak in a specialized nursing facility in San Diego County.
On Wednesday, Escondido Post Acute had 111 residents and 70 health workers with the new coronavirus, out of a total of 139 residents and 81 employees who tested positive since the pandemic began. The facility has a maximum number of beds of 180, according to data from the California Department of Public Health.
Facilities that face staffing shortages due to COVID-19 infections, other illnesses or hiring problems can lend employees from other health facilities or request support from HealthCorp – a medical team created by the state in April 2020 to meet health needs during the pandemic – the National Guard and emergency medical technical units as needed.
O National Guard deployed to two San Diego County facilities – Stanford Court Nursing Center in Santee in October and Villa Las Palmas Healthcare Center in El Cajon in November – but there are no current or future missions in the county, Director of Public Affairs and Media Relations, Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan M. Shiroma said by email.
A county spokesman was unable to confirm whether Escondido Post Acute or any other facility received additional support staff in December.
The women chatting through the window in Escondido Post Acute represent one of the many families that remain separated this holiday season, as COVID-19 case rates continue to rise and the regional order to stay at home remains in effect. Most visits to nursing homes have not been allowed for more than a month, since San Diego County was placed in the state’s most restrictive layer in mid-November.
Specialist nursing centers in San Diego County are now facing the most active outbreaks since the pandemic began, although relief may be in sight as vaccinations in nursing homes, through a partnership with CVS and Walgreens pharmacies, is scheduled to start on Monday.
Public health officer Wilma Wooten announced last Wednesday that there were 48 active outbreaks in qualified nursing centers, including 16 new ones since last week’s report, bringing the total of new coronavirus outbreaks to 133.
Unlike outbreaks in community settings, which are defined as three or more related cases from different families, outbreaks in qualified nursing units are considered to be active when a resident or health professional in the unit presents a positive test for the new coronavirus. An outbreak is considered inactive if no one has tested positive for at least two weeks.
Among the facilities with active outbreaks, the largest is at Escondido Post Acute Rehab, a facility that offers short-term recovery stays and long-term resident care and has been open since 1967, according to its website.
The latest outbreak makes Escondido Post Acute the highly qualified nursing center for cumulative new cases of coronavirus among residents since the start of the pandemic, and links it to La Fuente Post Acute in Vista – known as Astor Healthcare Center in the database state – for most cumulative cases among health workers.
Escondido Post Acute facility administrator Rob Zitsman declined to answer questions about the outbreak. In an email to the San Diego Union-Tribune, he wrote “Thank you for your interest in our facilities. I will not participate in any interview. My attention is focused on the well-being of our residents and employees. “
Last Wednesday, fewer than 11 residents and no health professionals in Escondido Post Acute died of the virus, according to the California Department of Public Health database. The state does not report exact COVID-19 statistics for categories with 10 or fewer cases in qualified nursing facilities.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reported last week 441,473 confirmed cases of COVID-19 among nursing home residents and 377,228 cases among employees across the country on December 13.
This is more than the December 6 report of 409,997 cases of residents and 350,711 cases of employees.
New coronavirus infections have caused more than 86,000 deaths of nursing home residents and more than 1,200 deaths of healthcare professionals across the country.
In California, the CMS reports that 32,123 nursing home residents contracted the virus, compared to the previous week’s total of 29,603. There were 5,014 nursing home residents who died of the virus across the state.
At the county’s weekly news conference on Wednesday, Wooten reported that 2,044 qualified nursing residents and 1,301 staff members in San Diego County tested positive for the virus, against 1,744 and 1,105, respectively, last week’s reports.
So far, 239 residents and nursing staff have died from the new coronavirus in San Diego County, including nine new deaths reported by county officials on Wednesday. Deaths related to outbreaks of specialist nurses account for just over 18% of the total number of new coronavirus deaths in the county.
The Monte Vista Lodge in Lemon Grove is the only facility that has yet to report a single case of the virus among a resident or healthcare professional, according to data from the California Department of Public Health.
Mapp writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune