LOCAL NURSING HOME VIRUS CASES NEAR 1,000

State adds 13 more facilities to list OK’D to resume indoor visits

As the country inches closer to logging the deaths of 200,000 people due to the COVID-19 pandemic, cases within San Diego County’s skilled nursing facilities are close to hitting their own milestone.

San Diego County on Wednesday reported 993 cumulative cases of novel coronavirus among nursing home residents and 641 among health care workers since the beginning of the pandemic. There are 20 active outbreaks of the 77 total outbreaks in skilled nursing facilities, which has led to168 deaths among residents and health care workers.

No new outbreaks at skilled nursing facilities were reported this week and there are five fewer active outbreaks than last week.

Unlike community outbreaks that require three or more people to test positive from separate households, a senior nursing facility is declared to have an active outbreak when one person tests positive. An outbreak is considered inactive when there have been no new cases within the facility for the past 14 days.

During last week’s news conference, county Public Health Officer Wilma Wooten said 881 residents and 584 health care workers had tested positive for the novel coronavirus in nursing homes. At that time, there were 25 active and 52 inactive outbreaks in the region’s nursing homes, and 159 deaths among residents and health care workers combined. This week, 13 more facilities in San Diego County were added to the state’s list of nursing homes that can resume indoor visitations. For facilities that have been granted approval, each

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resident can have one person as their designated visitor.

At Community Care Center in La Mesa, there are four more cases among residents and three more among health care workers, bringing their totals to 53 and 16, respectively.

The new cases at Community Care Center bump the facility up to eighth place among the county’s top facilities for COVID-19 cases among residents, surpassing Country Manor La Mesa Healthcare Center. Country Manor has not reported any new cases among health care workers or residents since Aug. 28.

There are still 27 nursing homes of the county’s 86 facilities that have not recorded a case of novel coronavirus among residents, according to the state’s database.

There are only five facilities without cases among residents or health care workers. They are Amaya Springs Health Care Center in Spring Valley, Arroyo Vista Nursing Center in San Diego, Monte Vista Lodge in Lemon Grove, Somerset Subacute and Care in El Cajon, and Valle Vista Convalescent Hospital in Escondido.

lauren.mapp@sduniontribune.com