COVID Toll: 33 Deaths

By Jondi Gumz

Eight months into the COVID-19 pandemic, with winter drawing nigh, Santa Cruz County has 1,134 active cases, with the first outbreak at the jail, 33 deaths including four in Capitola, no end in sight, but some state help on the horizon.

On Nov. 30, Gov. Newsom announced a $500 million relief program to provide grants of up to $25,000 to small businesses and nonprofits distributed through community development financial institutions, such as Bay Federal Credit Union in Capitola, Santa Cruz Community Credit Union and California Farm Link in Santa Cruz, Cal Coastal Rural Development in Salinas, and Opportunity Fund in San Jose. Rules will be set by California’s Office of the Small Business Advocate.

Applications will be accepted until Jan. 15 for the $100 million Main Street hiring tax credit, $1,000 for each employee rehired. Details about the SB1447 program are at https://www.cdtfa.ca.gov/taxes-and-fees/SB1447-tax-credit.htm.

In the past month, most of the Santa Cruz County COVID fatalities were at nursing homes, but one death was not: A Latino man in his 80s with an underlying condition living in South County, which has 61 percent of the cases. Scotts Valley has 123 cases.

On Nov. 30, the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office reported nine correctional officers tested positive for COVID-19 and are off work. Another six officers are quarantined, based on contact with infected coworkers, but no jail inmates have shown symptoms or tested positive, according to the Sheriff’s Office, which planned to test all correctional staff and inmates.

Contact tracers from the county Health Services Agency are trying to determine the source of the outbreak. The initial tests were spurred by jail officers showing symptoms at work, according to the Sheriff’s Office, which put screening protocols in place in March to prevent an outbreak.

The state reports more than 19,000 people have died because of COVID-19. Active cases are increasing dramatically, prompting health officials on Nov. 16 to put Santa Cruz County and much of California into the “Purple Tier,” which has the most restrictions on business operations, forcing restaurants, theaters, gyms, worship places to offer services outdoors only, and to adopt new rules for employers for the next six months, requiring them to fix workplace situations allowing the virus to spread, pay for testing when workers are exposed, provide masks and make sure workers wear them.

At Pacific Coast Manor in Capitola, four residents died of COVID-19. This is the third nursing home in the county with COVID deaths despite health officials banning visitors and requiring surveillance testing of staff to prevent the virus from getting in.

Owned by Covenant Care, the 99-bed Pacific Coast Manor reported the four deaths on Dec. 2, noting 61 residents and 37 employees tested positive for the virus.

In Santa Cruz, two elderly residents died of COVID-19, one at Santa Cruz Post Acute, a 149-bed nursing home owned by Kindred, and the other at Maple House II, a 40-bed residential care facility for the elderly under local ownership.

A woman in her mid80s with underlying conditions died Nov. 10 at Santa Cruz Post Acute. The outbreak began Nov. 7. At least 29 residents there and 15 staff tested positive.

A Caucasian woman in her mid90s with a significant condition died Nov. 14 at Maple House II, county Public Health spokeswoman Corinne Hyland said. That outbreak began Oct. 31 and spread to 10 staff and 14 residents.

The state fined Santa Cruz Post Acute $1,000 for failure to submit COVID-19 data on three occasions: June 6, Aug. 3 and Oct. 9.

“This failure resulted in incomplete data reported to the Department necessary to respond to the COVID-19 outbreak,” the state citation reads. “These failures had the potential to compromise the residents’ medical health and safety.”

Wrongful Death Lawsuit

On Nov. 10, the family of Donald Wickham sued Watsonville Post Acute, where he died Oct. 20 after contracting COVID-19, alleging elder abuse and neglect and wrongful death and seeking an unspecified amount of damages.

Wickham, 94, was one of 16 residents who died of COVID at Watsonville Post Acute; 50 of 74 residents and 21 staff became infected.

The lawsuit filed by Santa Cruz attorney David Spini of Scruggs, Spini & Fulton on behalf of Wickham’s son John, alleges the owners understaffed the nursing home to improve profits, brought in licensed vocational nurses and certified nursing assistants from other locations, increasing the potential for introducing the virus, and provided inadequate training to prevent infectious diseases, allowing 70 percent of the residents to contract the virus.

Spini noted infection control procedures at Watsonville Post Acute were found lacking six times by the state Department of Public Health, with an Oct. 6 report pointing out a housekeeper was not screened for symptoms of COVID before starting work.

In 2016, the state fined Watsonville Post Acute, which is owned by CF Watsonville West, a limited liability company in Los Angeles, $10,000 after a resident diagnosed with dementia left the premises and was found outside lying on a sidewalk with a fractured jaw.

The state report noted the resident wore a WanderGuard but the director of nursing acknowledged there was no routine monitoring of this resident’s whereabouts.

As of Dec. 2, Santa Cruz County had 4,696 COVID cases, 42 hospitalized, 3,529 recovered, and 75,865 negative test results – with case counts escalating after Halloween gatherings. Allowing for two-week incubation, with 118 people reporting their symptoms began Nov. 16, that points at Halloween.

The case rate is 11 new cases per day per 100,000 population; before Halloween, the case rate was below 4 per day. To get back in the Orange Tier, with fewer restrictions on business, the case rate would have to fall below 7 new cases per day.

Recently, cases have been increasing faster in Santa Cruz and among whites. Initially, cases were predominantly in Watsonville and the Latinx community, but now Hispanics account for 59 percent of the cases, down from 67 percent, with whites accounting for 18 percent.

New Employer Rules

On Nov. 19, the California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board adopted an emergency regulation aimed at protecting workers across California from exposure to COVID-19. The regulation, which will be put into effect by the state Division of Occupational Safety and Health, requires all employers to:

• Assess workplace hazards and create a written COVID-19 prevention program, allowing for employee participation;
• Correct COVID-19-related hazards in the workplace;
• Identify and notify all workers exposed to COVID-19-positive individuals;
• Provide testing free to employees in the event of COVID-19-positive cases in the workplace;
• Train employees on COVID-19 prevention;
• Mandate and enforce the wearing of face coverings in the workplace;
• Provide personal protective equipment free where needed; and
• Adopt safety measures in housing and transportation provided by the employer.

The regulation was in response to a May 20 letter from the Worksafe of Oakland and the National Lawyers Guild Labor & Employment Committee. They sought protection for “essential” workers, those working but not deemed essential, those working to support their families, those working because they feared they would lose their job and those who would return to work fearfully as the economy opened up.

Board staff noted the disproportionate impact on Latino communities but suggested a focus on businesses in Los Angeles County, where 40% of the cases and half of the deaths have occurred, or an emphasis on industries with a disproportionately high number of cases.

However, Cal/OSHA agreed with the petitioners that an emergency regulation is warranted. The regulation is similar to what the petitioners proposed, with additional requirements to provide masks and distancing for workers in employer-provided housing plus distancing, masks and ventilation in employer-provided transportation to work, including shuttles, ride-share vans and carpools.

Holiday Guidance

“The sharp rise in COVID-19 cases is very concerning,” said Jen Herrera, Santa Cruz County’s chief of public health. “It is critical that everyone follow social distancing guidelines and not gather in groups as we head into the holidays.”

On Friday, Nov. 13, the California Department of Public Health released Guidance for the Prevention of COVID-19 Transmission for Gatherings – ahead of Thanksgiving on Nov. 26 and Christmas Dec. 25.

A 10 p.m. statewide curfew was ordered on Nov. 21.

The safest way to gather is to spend time with people in the same household, gather virtually, or gather outdoors, according to Santa Cruz County health officials.

Anyone experiencing COVID symptoms, even mild, should be tested, health officials said, adding that if you receive a negative test, you should finish quarantining — typically 14 days after your last close contact with a person who has COVID-19.

Testing locations can be found at www.santacruzhealth.org/testing. Contact your medical provider if you have questions about quarantine or isolation.

Scotts Valley has one testing site at Kaiser Permanente. The county has obtained more testing capacity at Ramsay Park, 1301 Main St. in Watsonville, which is open 7 days a week, 7 a.m.-7 p.m. Testing is free. To make an appointment, go to https://lhi.care/covidtesting. Also, San Francisco-based Senneca Diagnostics has a community testing site at Twin Lakes Church, 2701 Cabrillo College Drive, Aptos, which can test up to 300 people per day. It is is open Mondays and Tuesdays from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. To make an appointment, go to www.sennecadx.com/community. Sutter Health/PAMF offers testing at its Urgent Care location in Santa Cruz.

•••

For state information, visit https://covid19.ca.gov/safer-economy/.

For local COVID-19 information, see www.santacruzhealth.org/coronavirus, call 211 or text “COVID19” to 211211. Residents can call (831) 454-4242 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

•••
COVID-19 Cases Around The County
(As of December 2, 2020)

Source: santacruzhealth.org