San Antonio Metro Health Releases Data On Coronavirus Cases In Nursing Homes

Press release from the City of San Antonio:

May 12, 2020

SAN ANTONIO (May 12, 2020) – As part of the City’s ongoing universal testing of nursing home residents and staff, Metro Health will begin posting the results on the City of San Antonio’s website as part of its daily 7:00 p.m. data update. Testing is being conducted by both Metro Health and the State of Texas, and the timing of the results being returned to Metro Health vary. However, the data below consists of active investigations for which tests have been completed by laboratories and verified by local public health authorities.

Residents

Staff

Note: COVID-19 investigations at Southeast Nursing and Rehabilitation Center and Buena Vida Nursing and Rehabilitation Center were closed after no new cases were identified for more than 14 days.

“All COVID-19-positive nursing home residents have been transferred to the River City Care Center facility to allow them to recover in isolation from other residents, or if necessary, to a hospital for treatment. There are no known positive residents or staff that are currently at these facilities – they’ve all been moved,” said Dr. Dawn Emerick, Director of San Antonio Metro Health.

On April 2, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued new recommendations to state and local governments and long-term care facilities to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Included was a recommendation that separate facilities be designated to care for infected residents:

To avoid transmission within long-term care facilities, facilities should use separate staffing teams for COVID-19-positive residents to the best of their ability, and work with State and local leaders to designate separate facilities or units within a facility to separate COVID-19 negative residents from COVID-19 positive residents and individuals with unknown COVID-19 status.

On April 10, the City of San Antonio announced that River City Care Center had volunteered to serve a facility for the isolation and treatment of COVID-19-positive residents of any nursing home in the region.

“We are grateful to River City for helping us be proactive and prepared to manage any COVID-19 outbreaks at nursing home facilities,” said Dr. Emerick. “It has undoubtedly helped reduce the spread of the virus among our most vulnerable residents.”

Yesterday, Governor Greg Abbott directed the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, the Texas Division of Emergency Management and the Texas Department of State Health Services to test all residents and staff of all nursing homes in the state. The San Antonio Metro Health Department had already been testing residents and staff at facilities that had reported any positive cases. Although the results have been publicized previously, with the Governor’s requirement that all nursing home residents and staff be tested statewide, the City of San Antonio will begin including results in its daily data postings.

FOUR WAYS TO SIGN UP FOR COVID-19 ALERTS

1. Download the Ready South Texas app, available in the iTunes and Google Play stores
2. Text COSAGOV to 55000 to receive SMS text message updates
3. Follow @COSAGOV on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
4. Bookmark www.SanAntonio.gov

Public service announcements on social distancing, prevention and testing are available here.

This press release was produced by the City of San Antonio. The views expressed here are the author’s own.