With high transmission rates in Los Angeles County, positive cases and outbreaks are increasing in skilled nursing facilities, the public health department reported Friday, June 10.
For the week ending May 29, skilled nursing facilities reported 114 new cases among residents and 205 new cases among staff.
This represents a 443% and 439% increase in new cases, respectively, from a month ago, when there were 21 new cases among residents and 38 new cases among staff for the week ending on April 23.
Additionally, the number of outbreaks per week in skilled nursing facilities has risen sharply over the past week to 40 new outbreaks in the seven days ending June 7, bringing the early warning signal back to a high level.
Public Health works closely with skilled nursing facilities to respond to and mitigate outbreaks. As a reminder, an outbreak is declared in a nursing facility when there is a resident case. Skilled nursing facilities continue to maintain enhanced protective measures, including indoor masking and testing requirements for residents, staff and visitors; appropriately isolate and quarantine residents; and limiting communal meals and group activities that cannot take place outdoors.
High levels of vaccination and booster coverage among NFS help provide lifesaving protection. As of May 29, 91% of nursing home residents were fully vaccinated and 79% fully vaccinated and boosted with the first booster dose. Among eligible personnel, vaccination rates are also very high with 98% fully vaccinated and 89% fully vaccinated and boosted.
However, although the data is incomplete, it appears that far fewer SNF residents and staff received a second booster; data to date indicates that second booster doses have been given to only 22% of eligible residents and 7% of staff.
In order to ensure that eligible nursing home residents and staff quickly receive second booster doses, Public Health continues to verify that qualified LA County nursing facilities are able to offer second doses. through their relationship with a long-term care pharmacy or through Public Health mobile teams. Skilled nursing facilities that require a mobile vaccination team can inquire by completing the COVID-19 Vaccination Special Requests for Healthcare Facilities request form. Skilled nursing facilities with active outbreaks will be scheduled for a mobile team clinic.
“I send my deepest condolences and wishes for peace and comfort to the many families who have lost loved ones to COVID-19,” said Barbara Ferrer, PhD, MPH, MEd, Director of Public Health. “This sharp increase in cases and outbreaks in NFS reflects the increase in transmission in the wider community. When we strongly recommend universal COVID precautions, one reason is that we all have a collective opportunity to protect the most vulnerable in our community, including nursing home residents. Although hard-working staff can and do take additional steps to prevent transmission in these facilities, if transmission rates are high in the surrounding community, it increases the likelihood of residents and staff being exposed to infected people. . When we mask and take other protective measures during times of increased COVID cases, we reduce the spread and thereby take steps to protect all of our residents, including the most vulnerable in our nursing homes.
On Friday, Public Health reported eight additional deaths and 6,202 new positive cases. Of the eight new deaths reported today, one person was between the ages of 18 and 29, one person was between the ages of 50 and 64, two people were between the ages of 65 and 79 and four people were aged 80 or over. . Of the eight newly reported deaths, six had underlying health conditions. To date, the total number of deaths in LA County is 32,201.
Public Health has reported a total of 3,025,694 positive cases of COVID-19 across all regions of LA County. The current positivity rate is 5.0%.
There are 616 people with COVID-19 currently hospitalized. Test results are available for more than 12,072,695 people, including 22% of those who tested positive. (AJPress)