California details nursing homes with coronavirus outbreaks

LOS ANGELES (AP) — California has for the first time released details about nursing homes facing coronavirus outbreaks, with three facilities in Los Angeles among the hardest-hit, as the numbers of COVID-19 cases and deaths across the state continues to rise on Sunday.

The Department of Public Health published a list of nearly 260 skilled nursing facilities with more than 3,000 total positive cases among patients and staff.

The information released Friday is a “point in time snapshot” representing 86% of California's 1,224 nursing homes that had reported data within the previous 24 hours, the department said on its website.

Eighty patients and 62 staff members tested positive at the Brier Oak on Sunset nursing home in Los Angeles, according to state numbers. Also in Los Angeles, the Country Villa South Convalescent Center saw 58 residents and 15 staff test positive, and the Garden Crest Rehabilitation Center had 35 patients and 35 staff test positive, the health department said.

To the north, Redwood Springs Healthcare Center in Visalia, a town in the agricultural Central Valley, had 91 residents and 46 staff members receive positive tests.

Skilled nursing facilities are a particular concern because of the age and health conditions of residents, and their close living arrangements. Outbreaks have been reported in facilities in much of the state, and dozens of residents have died.

Facilities have limited visitors since March and workers said they now undergo temperature checks and fill out questionnaires before their shifts to try to limit the spread of the disease.

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...