COVID-19 Outbreak Leaves 12 Dead, 130 Infected At Walnut Creek Nursing Facility
WALNUT CREEK (CBS SF) -- An coronavirus outbreak at a Walnut Creek nursing facility has infected 130 residents and workers and taken the lives of 12 people, according to state health officials.
Figures provided by the California Department of Public Health on coronavirus cases at skilled nursing facilities in the state showed that the ManorCare Health Services-Tice Valley facility, located on Tice Valley Boulevard in Walnut Creek, had a total of 92 patients and 38 health care workers who had tested positive for COVID-19.
There are currently 25 residents at the facility who are positive and 12 patients there have died from COVID-19 during the pandemic.
On Tuesday, the CDPH confirmed it had sent a strike team of infection prevention specialists to the facility. State health officials are working with the local health department and others to help mitigate any further infections and assess for potential exposures, according to officials.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the center has a record of health violations.
Julie Beckert, a spokeswoman with Toledo, Ohio-based HCR ManorCare, said all residents and staff at the Tice Valley facility have now been tested.
This is the third significant coronavirus outbreak at a Contra Costa County skilled nursing facilities since the COVID-19 pandemic began in March. At least four residents of the Orinda Care Center in Orinda died, and 40 residents and 32 staff members there tested positive. At the San Miguel Villa skilled nursing facility in Concord, 20 residents died from COVID-19-related causes, and a total of 65 residents and 17 staff members tested positive for the virus.
No residents or staff of either San Miguel Villa or Orinda Care Center are still being treated for COVID-19 symptoms, state figures show.
ManorCare Health Services-Tice Valley, on Tice Valley Boulevard, is outside the Rossmoor gated active-adult community where approximately 11,000 people live. That facility is separate and distinct from ManorCare Health Services-Rossmoor, on Rossmoor Boulevard a few blocks away from the Tice Valley facility. No cases of COVID-19 have been reported at ManorCare Health Services-Rossmoor.
State Department of Public Health personnel make regular site visits to nursing facilities where residents or staff have tested positive, said Will Harper, a spokesman for Contra Costa Health Services.
The county health department or an affiliated health care provider sends "strike teams" to nursing facilities where a positive test is reported, to review infection control practices with facility staff, and consults with state health department personnel about local facilities, Harper said.
He would not discuss details of outbreaks at specific facilities, including ManorCare on Tice Valley Boulevard.
Beckert said HCR ManorCare facilities had, by March, already eliminated group activities and most outside visits except in end-of-life situations, and that by that point all employees were required to wear masks.
More precautions have been taken since then, Beckert said, including restricting new admissions, taking regular symptom and temperature checks of all residents, strengthening sanitizing and cleaning processes and staying connected with residents' families and maintaining personal protective equipment supplies for staff.
"Our employees are working extremely hard, and in a challenging environment," Beckert said. "They are true health care heroes and deserve to be recognized as such."
