Number of staff and residents at care homes who have coronavirus now being reported.
Staffers, residents with infections by facility now will be cited
Santa Clara County now is reporting the number of staff and residents with coronavirus cases at each care home for the aged, identifying 18 where at least one patient is infected and 26 where at least one staff member has tested positive for COVID-19, the respiratory disease that has been most lethal to the elderly.
All told, Santa Clara County, a hot spot for infections since the pandemic began sweeping the world in January, has had 424 confirmed cases, 59 hospitalizations and 48 deaths at assisted living, skilled nursing, independent living and board and care facilities.
Though public health officials in some areas, notably Los Angeles
County, long have identified such facilities with outbreaks, Santa Clara County and others in the Bay Area have resisted reporting details, citing privacy concerns, though several of the facilities have disclosed or confirmed cases themselves.
The new details show the highest number of cases at 198-bed Canyon Springs Post-Acute, with 92 residents and 42 staff members reported to have tested positive for COVID-19.
The case counts for each facility are cumulative. It does not include details about deaths at each facility. As of April 27, six residents of Canyon Springs in San Jose have died from the coronavirus, according to a spokesman for the facility. A seventh person who died from cardiovascular disease also had an “asymptomatic COVID-19 infection,” according to data from the Santa Clara County Coroner’s office.
Also hit hard were the Valley House Rehabilitation Skilled Nursing Center with 49 residents and 32 staffers reported to have tested positive for the virus. Cedar Crest Nursing and Rehabilitation reported 45 residents and 20 staffers, and Mount Pleasant Nursing Center reported 44 residents and 18 staffers had contracted the virus.
Facilities with 10 or fewer cases were listed only as having fewer than 11, with no specific numbers.
Some places, like Amberwood Gardens and Lytton Gardens, had fewer than 11 residents listed ill and no infected staff members.
Others, like Pacific Hills Manor, Palo Alto Commons and Sunnyside Gardens, had under 11 staffers test positive, but no residents.
As of last week, Santa Clara County was reporting cases of COVID-19 across seven assisted living facilities, but it did not specify the number of infected people for each facility.
And though the county last week reported the total number of people who had died in nursing homes in the county, its health department so far has refused to name the facilities where the deaths occurred, or the number of deaths at each. The 48 reported COVID-19 deaths at longterm care facilities are 38% of the 126 total fatalities from the disease in the county.
One local man whose motherin-law is in a facility with fewer than 20 residents receiving care said the county should provide more detail, such as exact numbers less than 11, noting that many long-term care facilities are small and 10 infections could account for half the residents.
“It would be much better to be able to look up the all COVID-19 case counts for any long-term care facility,” he said, “especially for families separated by quarantine.”
Other Bay Area counties have refused to update their cases for nursing homes and assisted living facilities since the state began releasing limited information last month, leaving the public with an incomplete picture of serious outbreaks, cobbled together by county and state information and reporting by news agencies.
The California Department of Social Services reported that as of Monday, 1,473 residents and workers have tested positive for COVID-19 and 187 of them have died statewide at assisted living facilities, which house elderly people needing nonmedical assistance with tasks like eating, bathing, dressing and medicine management. The figures were not broken out for residents and staffers for those facilities.
The California Department of Public Health reported as of Monday a cumulative 4,909 residents and 3,091 employees had been infected statewide at skilled nursing homes, which treat elderly people needing around-the-clock nursing care or therapy, typically with a goal of returning them to their homes or to assisted living.
At those facilities, a total of 748 residents and 15 employees who tested positive for COVID-19 have died.
Staff writer Annie Sciacca contributed to this story. Please help us shed light on senior care by providing details by emailing us at seniorcareinquiries@bayareanewsgroup.com. Your information will reach reporters who are covering the impact coronavirus is having on nursing homes and assisted living facilities. You also can leave a phone message at 510208-6458. Thank you for your help. Contact John Woolfolk at 408-920-5782.