California nursing facility evacuated after staff no-shows

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) — A skilled nursing facility in Southern California where nearly three dozen residents are infected with the coronavirus was being evacuated after staff members failed to show up to care for them, officials said Wednesday.

Riverside County public health officials said 84 patients were being moved from the Magnolia Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Riverside after a large number of employees didn't show up two days in a row.

Residents are being sent to other facilities that will need to follow virus containment measures, or, if they are well enough, they may be sent home, said Brooke Federico, a spokeswoman for the county’s public health agency.

The county doesn't know why the employees didn't report for work, she said. No one at the facility could be immediately reached for comment.

Five employees and 34 residents at the 90-bed facility have been found to have the virus, officials said. Those who don't are being transferred first, along with their personal belongings.

As the number of coronavirus cases grows in California, skilled nursing facilities are a particular concern because of the age and health condition of residents and their living in such close proximity to each other. Outbreaks have been reported in facilities throughout the state, and some residents have died.

Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said on Tuesday there may be instances where residents who are hunkered down under stay-at-home orders might elect to bring their loved ones home to care for them. She said federal and state officials had issued similar guidance.

“There are families who in fact have those resources and are able to go ahead and make that offer,” she said. “But I also know there are many families who are faced with the horrible reality that they cannot effectively care for a person in their home either.”

For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough, that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death.

At a facility in the San Francisco Bay Area, nearly 50 people have been infected and one person has died. An outbreak at a skilled nursing facility in San Bernardino County infected more than 50 people, killing five.

That outbreak caused staffing challenges as some employees became sick and others stayed away as a precaution because they were in a higher risk category themselves, said Elizabeth Tyler, a spokeswoman for Cedar Mountain Post Acute in Yucaipa, California. Those who tested positive for the virus but didn’t have symptoms were still able to work with virus patients, she said.

The facility set up trailers for staff who didn't want to return home lest they infect their families or wanted to be nearby in case of an emergency at work, she said.

April Verrett, president of Service Employees International Union Local 2015, said her union doesn't represent staff at the Riverside center and only represents about a quarter of the nursing facility workers in the state.

Many are afraid, Verrett said. They want to be adequately trained to care for virus patients and protected, she said.

“Of course they want to make sure their work environment is safe and all precautions are being taken for themselves and their families,” she said. “But our folks are going to work.”