California to begin mandatory COVID-19 testing for some staff, patients at state hospitals

California’s state-run psychiatric hospitals are expected to begin mandatory coronavirus testing for workers and patients in their skilled nursing facilities, a step that labor leaders call inadequate.

The Department of State Hospitals announced the testing Thursday in an email to staff. Under the testing plan, all patients and workers at the facilities will undergo baseline testing and then everyone will be tested once a month, with a quarter of patients and workers being tested each week.

Those who test positive will be isolated, and infected health care personnel will be excluded from work.

Two of the department’s five hospitals in the state have units designated as skilled nursing facilities. Located in hospitals in Napa and the Los Angeles suburbs, the facilities provide continuous care for patients on an extended basis.

The department did not return a request for comment.

Neither of the two facilities had reported any positive coronavirus tests as of Monday, according to Department of Public Health data. The two facilities together housed 90 patients in 2018, the most recent year the Department of State Hospitals reported data.

“The vulnerable nature of the [skilled nursing facility] population combined with the inherent risks and congregate living situation in a healthcare setting requires aggressive efforts to limit COVID-19 exposure,” part of the email reads.

But according to Eric Soto, who leads California’s union for psychiatric technicians, this measure raises more questions than answers.

For one, Soto said that workers in these facilities occasionally move around to other units to fill in staff gaps. What happens, he asked, if staff come into a skilled nursing facility from elsewhere? Will they be tested? And what about those in other parts of the hospital?

“That’s one of our big concerns,” he said.

Employees at state hospitals work in confined spaces and have expressed worries about the coronavirus since March. Anonymous employees at Atascadero State Hospital likened their predicament to “a cruise ship times 100” when they spoke with The San Luis Obispo Tribune. Atascadero is not one of the sites with mandatory testing.

Soto also raised worries about the accessibility of surgical masks. He heard from his members that it’s been difficult to obtain another mask after the one that employees receive at a pre-work screening.

“I’m pretty sure, overall, that the state’s trying to do their best,” he said. “But I think from my knowledge, they have been very lucky and very fortunate that they haven’t had as high of an outbreak.”

Wes Venteicher of The Sacramento Bee Capitol Bureau contributed to this report.

This story was originally published June 9, 2020 at 11:19 AM.