Coronavirus outbreaks at Inland Empire nursing homes slow, health officials say

Jul. 11--In the coronavirus pandemic's first couple of months, Inland county and state public health officials rushed to curb outbreaks at skilled-nursing facilities, which then made up a significant portion of cases and deaths.

While cases and hospitalizations have been rapidly rising across the Inland Empire in recent weeks, public health officials say the virus is mostly spreading outside these facilities.

"The current increase in cases that everybody's experiencing is less related to nursing-home patients than it is to a community outbreak," said Dr. Rodney Borger, emergency medicine chairman for Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton.

In the pandemic's early days, the facilities were at the center of attention. San Bernardino County reported its first outbreak at Cedar Mountain Post Acute Rehabilitation in Yucaipa, while a nursing facility in Riverside was evacuated because employees who tested positive didn't show up to work.

It's unclear exactly how many of San Bernardino and Riverside county's cases and deaths are tied to nursing facilities. The state doesn't release data for facilities if they have fewer than 11 cases or deaths.

However, the number of new cases being diagnosed in nursing homes has flattened and deaths are slowing, according to Borger.

In the two weeks ending Friday, July 10, the total number of confirmed cases in long-term care facilities has risen 20%, compared to 58% in Riverside County as a whole, according to the county's online dashboard.

In response to early outbreaks, both counties formed specialized teams, called Skilled Nursing Facilities Outreach Support, or SOS teams, to train nursing-facility staff in the safety and care of sick residents as well as to make sure they had enough personal protective equipment, supplies and testing.

Officials in both counties say the effort has helped slow the outbreaks.

In San Bernardino County, two to four teams head to nursing facilities every day to support staff, while a team from the county public health department helps ensure they are following state guidelines, Borger said.

"I think we have a good handle on what's going on in the nursing homes currently and we have the ability to act if there is an outbreak," Borger said. "I think we will recognize it pretty quickly."

As of June 29, Riverside's teams had visited 554 facilities, said Jose Arballo Jr., Riverside County public health spokesman.

Riverside County also has teams of staff who temporarily fill in at nursing homes when regular employees are unable to come to work, either out of fear of the virus or illness, Arballo said.

On April 8, 83 patients were evacuated from Magnolia Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Riverside after employees did not show up to care for sick patients two days in a row.

The county has not had to evacuate any facilities since, Arballo said.

"We keep seeing cases going up and, in some cases more areas that are being hurt than others, but at this point we think we have a good idea of what the situation is at those nursing facilities," Arballo said.

A team of public health officials from the county, state and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention visited Welbrook Arlington Senior Living Community in Riverside after it reported its first case in April.

Since then, 10 residents and 11 employees have tested positive for the coronavirus, said Constance Sablan, a company spokeswoman.

In March, the company, MBK Senior Living, began implementing a list of more than 20 protocols to curb the spread of the virus there, Sablan said.

The company installed hand-washing stations and began checking visitors' temperatures and screening them for symptoms, Sablan said. It also ended small group activities and stopped serving meals in the dining room, Sablan said.

"We're taking every step that we possibly can to keep people well," Sablan said. "When we did have people test positive, we made sure that the caregivers that were overseeing those residents were wearing full PPE, so they'd have on gowns, gloves, masks and eye protection. There wasn't crossover among them and a well resident."

The protocols are working, and that's now being noticed by employees and residents' families, Sablan said.

"They're seeing that they're working and doing the best they can to keep them safe," Sablan said.

Staff Writer Nikie Johnson contributed to this report.

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