In the months ahead, health officials in Los Angeles County will begin testing residents and staff at skilled nursing facilities in hopes of getting ahead of COVID-19, officials said.
At a news conference Tuesday, County Public Health Director Dr. Barbara Ferrer said “surveillance testing” will soon be underway to offer tests to anywhere from 10 to 20% of staff and residents at skilled nursing facilities on a “fairly regular interval” to make sure coronavirus cases are caught at an early stage.
“We know it’s foolish to wait until we actually have people who are sick in these settings where people are so vulnerable,” Ferrer said.
Countywide there has been a total of 1,313 deaths due to the virus. Of those who died, 647 lived in settings vulnerable to a high rate of spread such as jails, shelters, and, most commonly, nursing homes.
“This represents 49% of all our deaths,” Ferrer said. “The majority of the people who have passed away in institutional settings lived in our skilled nursing facilities. This is an alarming rate.”
Since COVID-19 began spreading, hundreds of facilities in L.A. County have had outbreaks of the virus, officials reported. County officials have been working to get into every facility that has had an outbreak, starting with the skilled nursing facilities.
“The strategy is we test every single employee, every single resident, and we’re starting with places where we obviously have outbreaks,” Ferrer said.
Because some people with coronavirus are asymptomatic, county health officials also plan to do testing at facilities that have not had any outbreaks or positive cases.
Along with the new testing plans, Ferrer said the county’s health department continues to inspect facilities, respond to complaints and launch routine investigations at higher-risk facilities. At every site where there has been a COVID-19 outbreak or positive case, the county sends out a team in-person or virtually to make sure infection control protocols are being followed.