COVID-19 reaches California veterans homes that had largely avoided virus

The coronavirus has reached California’s state-run veterans homes, which had managed to keep infections to a minimum through the year.

CalVet’s eight homes had 72 active cases as of Friday, including residents and employees, according to the most recent data from the department. Thirty-three residents and 39 employees were infected, according to CalVet.

The department doesn’t release numbers for specific homes. Emails obtained by The Sacramento Bee for five of the eight homes show that more employees than residents are infected overall (numbers are included below). A home in West Los Angeles had the most infections among residents for the five homes, with 15 infections among 300 residents and 12 among 445 employees.

From March to November, the homes reported a running average of between a half-dozen to a dozen cases at any given time, according to CalVet figures kept by staff of Assemblywoman Jacqui Irwin, D-Thousand Oaks, chairwoman of the Assembly’s Military and Veteran’s Affairs Committee.

The numbers started to pick up in November and grew even more December, the figures show.

Irwin said in an emailed statement that California Veterans Affairs Secretary Dr. Vito Imbasciani has done a good job of managing the virus, but she said a lack of publicly available case numbers for each home makes it difficult to assess the severity of the current uptick.

“The recent increase in positive Covid-19 cases within the eight-home system is very worrying, but without facility-level information it is impossible to determine whether these cases are spread across the state, or clustered within a few homes,” Irwin said in the statement.

The homes have performed extensive, proactive testing, emails to employees, residents and their families show. In late October, a new state testing lab helped the homes increase testing, and they have been catching more asymptomatic cases, CalVet spokeswoman Lindsey Sin said in an email.

“While our current active cases reflect an increase in COVID-19 at our homes, they also reflect the increase in cases in the homes’ surrounding communities across the state,” Sin said in the email. “CalVet continues to do all it can to prevent, detect, and combat this virus in our Homes, including frequent, proactive testing of staff and residents.”

Two residents died from COVID-19 in the spring and an employee at the Yountville home in Napa County died from the virus in July, but California’s state-run veterans homes have done a much better job keeping the virus out than many nursing homes and other veterans homes.

The 2,100 veterans who live at the homes are more than 80 years old on average, making them vulnerable to the virus.

California reported record-high numbers of positive tests last week, climbing above 50,000 per day. Most of the state is under Gov. Gavin Newsom’s lockdown orders due to limited regional hospital capacities.

Emails obtained by The Sacramento Bee offer a snapshot of infections at five homes, listed below.

Yountville:

A Dec. 20 email reported four active cases among residents and seven among employees.

The home has performed 8,050 tests on its 700 residents and 11,300 tests on its 830 employees.

Barstow:

A Dec. 19 email cited two active cases among 132 residents and seven among employees.

The home has been testing all staff twice a week and residents each month, with more frequent testing as needed. The home has performed 1,464 tests on its 132 residents and 1,893 tests of more than 190 staff members.

Fresno:

A Dec. 19 email listed two active cases among 262 residents and eight among employees.

The home has performed 2,795 tests on its 262 residents and more than 3,180 tests on about 445 employees.

West Los Angeles:

A Dec. 17 email reported 15 active cases among 300 residents and 12 among employees.

More than 3,020 tests on approximately 300 residents; nearly 5,285 tests on approximately 400 employees.

Chula Vista:

A Dec. 20 email reported 10 active cases among 270 residents and six among staff.

The home has performed more than 940 tests on about 270 residents and more than 4,900 tests on about 350 employees.

This story was originally published December 22, 2020 at 5:00 AM.