COVID-19 outbreak at Modesto retirement center has claimed 17 lives. Is it contained?
As Stanislaus County’s coronavirus numbers were tapering off in September, an outbreak was sweeping through a Modesto retirement center that had mostly avoided infections for months.
The nonprofit Casa de Modesto said in a COVID-19 update Saturday it had no current cases of the serious respiratory illness.
An outbreak, however, infected 17 patients and led to 13 deaths among patients in a skilled nursing wing from late August to Oct. 1, according to information posted on Casa de Modesto’s website. One skilled nursing patient died in October.
Saturday’s update said a total of 40 coronavirus cases and 17 deaths have occurred at Casa de Modesto since the virus surfaced in Stanislaus County in March. Two of the cases were in the assisted living section including the first death months ago.
The facility on Eldena Way says that 23 residents of Casa de Modesto have recovered. Of the 45 staff members who have tested positive going back to late July, 44 have recovered. There is one active case among staff.
The website says Casa de Modesto is maintaining communications with local and state health agencies to make sure appropriate steps are taken. According to the notice, the center has a mitigation plan approved by the state and is following the guidelines to protect patients.
“I feel as bad for these families going through this as I went through it myself,” said Curt Willems, executive director and administrator for skilled nursing, who lost his mother during the pandemic. “It’s a terrible tragedy we are going through in our country and in our world today. It is tragic and my thoughts and prayers are with the family members who’ve had to go through this.”
Willems said Tuesday he could not explain how the contagious virus took hold in the nursing wing at Casa de Modesto. He said multiple inspections by federal and state regulators concluded “we were going above and beyond what’s expected for meeting the regulations.”
The administrator added: “It is the nature of the pandemic that the virus is potentially airborne. Somehow, some way it got into the facility at that time.”
Willems said one employee tested positive for coronavirus in the most recent test period, after the facility had gone through a number of test periods without a positive result. The staff member is quarantined at home for at least 14 days.
Despite the current lack of cases at Casa de Modesto, Willems said the facility is not letting its guard down. “I don’t think it is ever under control. It’s why nationwide we are seeing a second surge,” Willems said.
In mid-August, the facility reported it had one case in skilled nursing and two active coronavirus cases among staff. That was reassuring to people like John Lopes of Modesto, whose mother was a patient at Casa de Modesto.
But then infections seemed to explode in late August and September, endangering patients in the skilled nursing area, Lopes said.
Lopes said his 85-year-old mother tested positive in mid-September. She later came down with serious complications and was taken to Doctors Medical Center, where she died Sept. 30.
In his opinion, the retirement facility has managed the outbreak poorly. “Something happened in September that they were not doing their duty,” Lopes said.
He recalled when he picked up his mother’s belongings, an employee told him most of the staff had caught the virus and he was working 16-hour days.
Like many local families with loved ones in locked-down nursing homes, Lopes said he was not able to visit in-person with his mother in the last seven months of her life. He and family members had one “window visit” on her birthday Aug. 21 in which they stood at her window to cheer her up.
Lopes talked with his mother by phone every day.
After she tested positive, Lopes said, his mother first had sneezing and coughing. As it progressed, the illness affected her heart and her blood pressure plummeted. “She was in relatively good health, with diabetes and hypertension. If she had not caught the virus, she would be alive today,” Lopes said.
Casa de Modesto is licensed for 59 skilled nursing beds and has independent living apartments for up to 55 residents. Assisted living and memory care units have capacity for 43 and 11 residents, respectively.
Stanislaus County reported 102 deaths related to COVID-19 in September, which was down from 148 in August. Of the 402 pandemic deaths in the county, 77 percent have been people 65 years or older. About one-fourth were 85 or older.
Willems noted that nursing homes in California have come under criticism for outbreaks within their facilities. But there is another side to the story.
“This is not an easy situation for anybody,” Willems said. “We are working so hard to keep people as healthy as possible against an invisible enemy.”
This story was originally published November 3, 2020 at 4:55 AM.
