The coronavirus has sickened nearly 100 people and killed two at the Windsor Vallejo Care Center, a skilled nursing facility in Solano County. More than half of the county’s reported cases are connected to this one outbreak.
County Health Officer Dr. Bela Matyas says only a handful of patients from Windsor have required hospitalization so far, but he warned a Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday that could change.
Working with county officials, Windsor is separating patients by their “risk of transmission to others,” Matyas said. That means COVID-positive patients are separated from those suspected of having the virus, and both those groups are kept apart from residents who test negative.
In addition, Matyas says they’re retesting everyone, in an effort to catch those who have the virus but show no symptoms. Because of the risk that patients in other facilities may be transmitting COVID-19 asymptomatically, the county with the help of hospitals and other groups plans to “proactively” test staff in all long-term care facilities, “as soon as we are able to,” Matyas said.
The initial introduction of the virus into Windsor Care Center has been traced to staff members becoming infected in their homes, Matyas says. Workers then brought the virus into the facility, where it spread.
Lessons from the Windsor outbreak include using personal protective equipment in care facilities as regularly as hospitals, according to Matyas.
— Molly Peterson (@Mollydacious)