Virus deaths continue to hit California nursing homes hard

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The coronavirus continues to take a deadly toll among residents of California nursing homes, with one Central Valley facility recording its 20th death and another in Southern California its 18th.

In Tulare County, there have been 20 deaths among residents of Redwood Springs Healthcare in Visalia as of Friday, spokesman David Oates said.

In San Bernardino County, 18 deaths have occurred among residents who had COVID-19 at Cedar Mountain Post Acute Rehabilitation in Yucaipa.

Statewide, the number of deaths of skilled nursing facility residents topped 480 as of Friday morning, according to a California Department of Public Health tracking website.

In Los Angeles County, the state’s most populous, deaths in so-called institutional settings reached 365, and the majority were residents of skilled nursing facilities, Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said.

The total represents 43% of all deaths in LA County.

Ferrer announced a new health officer order for all such facilities with measures intended to prevent transmission of the virus.

Facilities will be required to conduct COVID-19 testing of all residents and staff, both symptomatic and asymptomatic, at a frequency to be determined in conjunction with public health officials, she said. Skilled nursing facilities with the most severe outbreaks will be prioritized, but testing will be made available in every such location in the county, she said.

“We’ve really changed our guidance,” Ferrer said. “We used to just recommend, even in places where we were noticing that there were outbreak situations, that it was symptomatic people who needed to be tested.”

But there is “a new reality,” she said.

“It’s become really clear that asymptomatic people are in fact both infected with the virus and are capable of shedding the virus, and that means they are capable of infecting others,” Ferrer said.

The order also requires the facilities to limit entry to only those people who need to work there, barring nonessential workers and visitors, and suspend all communal dining and activities to maintain physical distancing.

Staff will also be required to always wear surgical masks and to use personal protective equipment when appropriate. Residents will be required to wear surgical masks when they are outside their personal rooms.

The facilities will also be required to follow all federal, state and local infection control guidelines.

For most people, the virus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness and death.