By Martin Wisckol | Orange County Register | Updated April 27, 2020
Advocates for nursing home reform cite inadequate testing, reporting and safety precautions.
This story has been corrected to show that in the state’s April 17 list of nursing homes with infections, the La Palma Nursing Center had between 1 and 10 COVID-19 infected staff members and no patients with infections. This data was incorrect in the original version of this story. The state’s April 24 list showed no infections at the facility.
At least four Orange County nursing homes have COVID-19 outbreaks with four confirmed deaths and six other facilities have reported at least a single infection, but the numbers are likely much higher because testing is limited and reporting of cases is spotty.
Alamitos West Health & Rehabilitation in Los Alamitos and Sea Cliff Health Care Center in Huntington Beach were added Thursday to the county’s list of centers with outbreaks, joining Anaheim Healthcare Center and Huntington Valley Healthcare Center.
The Anaheim center had 15 infected patients according to a state report issued April 17. But city of Anaheim spokesman Mike Lyster said Thursday that the current number was 49 — including 35 patients and 14 staff, with two residents dying of the disease. There are about 200 patients at the facility.
The Huntington Valley Healthcare Center in Huntington Beach showed fewer than 11 infected patients and 11 infected staff in the April 17 report. But the facility announced Tuesday a total of 74 infections. That included two patients, both in their 70s, who died, as well as 48 more patients and 24 staff members who tested positive.
That meant that at least half of the estimated 100 patients were infected as well as a quarter of the approximately 100 staffers. The center confirmed Wednesday that not everyone at the center had been tested.
The two locations’ dramatic increases from the state’s Friday tally is just one indication that nursing home infections are far more common than what is being reported to state and local officials, said Michael Dark, an attorney for California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform.
“The state list is the tip of the iceberg and is a small fraction of the real number,” Dark said. “I think there is already an explosion in nursing homes but we’re only getting intermittent clues about it. That’s because the homes don’t have an incentive to report it. It’s bad for business, they don’t want the bad publicity and they’re unlikely to be caught.”
That shortcoming was emphasized in a statement issued by the group, in which it called for closer supervision of the homes.
“California has no system to ensure that nursing homes are reporting outbreaks as required,” the statement said after the state released its list of nursing homes with infections. “Even Magnolia Rehabilitation and Nursing Center, the Riverside nursing home that had all 83 of its residents evacuated … due to a major outbreak, is not on the list.”
The group also noted the lack of testing at many nursing homes. Asked why the Huntington Beach center hadn’t tested everyone there, officials there said it was the county’s decision.
“County public health advises who gets tested and who doesn’t based on the presence of symptoms,” the nursing home said via email. “So not everyone gets tested unless the county directs it.”
Orange County Health Officer Nichole Quick declined to discuss testing specifically at Huntington Valley.
“Any time there is an outbreak or even a single case, we test widely,” she said. “In terms of individuals not being tested, I can’t speak to that.”
UPDATE: The California Department of Public Health on April 24 issued a new list of nursing homes with infections, which it later updated. The list as of April 25 names 11 facilities in Orange County. Those 11 are now listed in the third section of this story. However, the Register quickly identified a glaring discrepancy: The state lists Huntington Valley Healthcare Center as now having 1-10 staff infections and 44 patient infections. But an April 24 press release from Huntington Valley lists 34 staff and 62 patient infections. The Register is trying to find out why there is the discrepancy and what others might exist. Additionally, as of April 24 there are four deaths from the coronavirus at Anaheim Healthcare Center — up from two reported April 23 — according to Anaheim spokesman Mike Lyster.
Infected staff
As of Thursday, the county was reporting 188 of the county’s 1,827 coronavirus infected residents were either living or working in nursing homes. That number included 108 residents and 80 staff.
“OC has defined outbreaks as two or more residents with infection in a facility within a two-week period of time,” said Health Care Agency spokeswoman Jessica Good.
Of Thursday’s additions to the list, Sea Cliff spokeswoman Courtney Cuomo said there were two infections and no deaths at that __cpLocation. Alamitos West did not immediately return a call for requesting infection tallies.
The county has not released the number of nursing home deaths from COVID-19. Nursing homes’ predominance of elderly patients with health issues make them particularly susceptible to dying from the virus.
And it’s not just the elderly who live in the homes.
“If somebody breaks their hip, they’re only going to be in the hospital three or four days,” Dark said. “Then they’re going to get sent to a nursing home for recovery. And they’re not going to know where the infection is.”
and Huntington Valley Healthcare Center in Huntington Beach, CA, on Tuesday, April 22, 2020. The nursing home has reported 74 cases of the coronavirus, 50 of them among its residents.(Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)Huntington Valley and Anaheim Healthcare both said they take their workers temperatures when they arrive at work and ask who they’ve been in close quarters with in their off hours.
In Anaheim, Fire & Rescue checks on the home daily to ensure adequate supplies and to be aware of any issues, city spokesman Lyster said.
But patients, families and advocates all expressed concern of the workers spreading the virus to residents.
“What’s concerning is that employees work at both Huntington Valley and Sea Cliff,” said Lori South, who moved from Huntington Valley to Sea Cliff Healthcare Center in February after becoming dissatisfied with Huntington Valley.
“I still see people I knew from Huntington Valley. Caregivers are floating from a place with a high number of coronavirus cases to all these other facilities. (And) there’s a big turnover of employees. You see someone twice and then you don’t see them again.”
Dark concurred that employees pose a risk of introducing infection to the homes.
“The workers are often earning minimum wage and they have to work in multiple facilities, so they take it from one facility to another,” he said.
While most homes say they have staffers wearing masks and gloves throughout their shifts, social distancing often impossible, Dark said.
“There is no such thin as social distancing when you have a healthcare worker feeding a resident,” he said. “There’s no such thing as social distancing when you have three Alzheimer’s patients sharing a room.”
Other infected facilities
Here’s the state’s April 24 list of Orange County skilled nursing facilities with incidents of COVID, with the state’s updates as of April 25. Specific numbers are not given when there are fewer than 11 staff or patients infected. Critics say the list is incomplete and actual numbers are higher.
Alamitos West Health & Rehabilitation, Los Alamitos (1-10 staff, 11 patients)
Anaheim Healthcare Center (1-10 staff, 26 patients)
Flagship Healthcare Center, Newport Beach (1-10 staff, no patients)
Garden Grove Post Acute (no staff, 1-10 patients)
Huntington Valley Healthcare Center, Huntington Beach (1-10 staff, 44 patients)
Leisure Court Nursing Center, Anaheim (1-10 staff, no patients)
Mesa Verde Post Acute Care Center, Costa Mesa (no staff, 1-10 patients)
Parkview Healthcare Center, Anaheim (1-10 staff, no patients)
Sea Cliff Healthcare Center, Huntington Beach (1-10 staff, 1-10 patients)
Windsor Gardens Care Center of Fullerton (1-10 staff, no patients)
Windsor Gardens Care Center of Anaheim (no staff, 1-10 patients)
Here’s the state’s April 17 list of Orange County skilled nursing facilities with incidents of COVID. Specific numbers are not given when there are fewer than 11 staff or patients infected. Critics say the list is incomplete and actual numbers are higher.
Advanced Rehabilitation Center of Tustin (no staff, 1-10 patients)
Alamitos West Health & Rehabilitation, Los Alamitos (1-10 staff, 1-10 patients)
Anaheim Healthcare Center (no staff, 15 patients)
Flagship Healthcare Center, Newport Beach (1-10 staff, no patients)
Fountain Care Center, Orange (1-10 staff, no patients)
Huntington Valley Healthcare Center, Huntington Beach (1-10 staff, 1-10 patients)
La Palma Nursing Center (1-10 staff, no patients)
Lesiure Court Nursing Center, Anaheim (1-10 staff, no patients)
Parkview Healthcare Center, Anaheim (1-10 staff, no patients)
Sea Cliff Healthcare Center, Huntington Beach (1-10 staff, 1-10 patients)
West Anaheim Extended Care (no staff, 1-10 patients)
Windsor Garden Convalescent Center of Anaheim (1-10 staff, not patients)
Staff writers Susan Christian Goulding and Jeong Park contributed to this story.