Psychiatric center forced to quarantine

Union rep: Patients may not understand safety measures

A unit of the Capital District Psychiatric Center in Albany has been placed under quarantine following a coronavirus outbreak.

The center directed questions about the outbreak to the state Office of Mental Health, which oversees the facility. OMH declined to reveal how many patients and staff have been infected or whether anyone has died as a result of the outbreak, citing state and federal privacy laws.

OMH spokesperson James Plastiras said the state was first notified of a positive case at the facility on Nov. 27 and contacts of the person were isolated and tested as a result. Further testing, tracing and isolations were implemented “for any other individuals who tested positive,” he said.

“To protect our patients’ Protected Health Information we do not disclose

numbers at facilities that have had five or fewer deaths,” he said in an email. “However, across all of OMH’S 23 psychiatric centers, there have been 42 deaths of inpatients confirmed to have been caused by COVID -19.”

Plastiras said the state is testing staff and inpatients regularly in order to contain the outbreak, and has provided staff and patients with personal protective equipment, and staff on the quarantined unit with enhanced protective equipment. All individuals are being screened prior to entering the building and units are frequently disinfected, he said.

The Albany County Department of Health said the state Department of Health is handling the outbreak response, but confirmed that the local health department is dealing with contacts who do not work at the facility.

Screening measures for staff and patients were in place before the outbreak, and visits were limited to virtual settings, Plastiras said.

Also prior to the outbreak, staff and patients were instructed to socially distance when possible and to practice infection prevention measures such as hand hygiene, he said.

“OMH has changed practices in our facilities to reduce density and increase social distancing,” Plastiras said. “We are no longer congregating people in groups and clinicians in clinics and community staff are providing services via video and phone whenever possible.”

OMH also postponed all nonessential training, he said. Essential trainings, such as those covering safety issues, were limited in size, he said.

Civil Service Employees Association represents employees at the psychiatric center. Union spokesman Mark Kotzin said CSEA was working closely with the state to confront outbreaks at state facilities.

“They don’t want to see our workers injured or sick either,” he said Wednesday.

He said he did not know specifics of the outbreak in Albany but said such facilities pose challenges because the employees work in close contact with patients. Many of those undergoing inpatient treatment cannot leave the facility or understand the best practices for slowing the spread of the virus, situations that add difficulties to the effort to quell outbreaks, he said.

The Capital District Psychiatric Center, located at 75 New Scotland Ave., provides inpatient psychiatric treatment and rehabilitation to patients who have been diagnosed with serious and persistent mental illnesses.