Nursing facility has had 9 COVID-19 related deaths
SANTA CRUZ >> A concentrated outbreak of COVID-19 cases has caused another five deaths at the Watsonville Post-Acute Center, a skilled nursing facility.
As of Wednesday afternoon, a cumulative 46 residents and 17 staff members at the nursing facility had tested positive for COVID-19 in recent weeks. The five deaths raise the total COVID-19 deaths at the facility to nine. Countywide, 20 deaths caused by COVID-19 have been confirmed, with a new death from outside the Watsonville facility confirmed Thursday, Santa Cruz County Health Services Agency spokeswoman Corinne Hyland said.
“The definition of an outbreak in a skilled nursing facility is literally a resident has COVID-19,” Hyland said. “I think an outbreak in a skilled nursing facility is inevitable, yes, just due to the congregateliving setting and the fact that the residents are our most vulnerable, fragile population.”
Hyland added, however, that what was occurring at Watsonville Post-Acute Center “is kind of a larger scale, that we’re seeing here.” The source of the outbreak, which appears to have begun mid-September, remained under investigation this week, she said.
Although the rate of new cases in Santa Cruz County continues to decline, skilled nursing and long-term care facilities remain at elevated risk for COVID-19 due to the congregate living setting and the vulnerability of the population. Asked if the Watsonville facility’s situation was a precursor to similar outbreaks in the future, Hyland said not necessarily.
“We really expected from all the fire evacuations, where we had multiple congregate living situations for several weeks, to result in an uptick in cases,” Hylan said. “And I don’t believe we have any documented
cases from the fire evacuations.”
State and local public health officials continue to work closely with the nursing facility to manage the serious outbreak, Hyland said. From the f irst conf irmed infection, a series of containment measures immediately kick in, she said. On its website, watsonvillepostacute. com, the business has logged regular updates, intermittent since July, on the number of reported infections in patients and staff.
Since the latest outbrea k bega n, Ca lifornia Department of Public Health officials have conducted multiple site visits to provide assessments and recommendations to management at the Watsonville facility. Santa Cruz County health officials also are working with the facility on a daily basis to review protocols on isolation, quarantine, testing and screening, as well as resource requests for staff and supplies critical to resolving the outbreak.
Additionally, the California National Guard is also providing health care personnel staffing support to the facility, as a number of its employees have gone into quarantine while testing positive for COVID-19.