Coronavirus Pandemic: Orinda Senior Care Facility Outbreak Grows To 49 Confirmed Cases; 1 Death
WALNUT CREEK (CBS SF) -- A coronavirus outbreak at an Orinda senior care facility has now spread to 49 residents and staffers and resulted in one death, according to county health officials.
Contra Costa County health officials first announced the outbreak at the 47-bed Orinda Care Facility last Friday. At the time, 27 staffers and residents had tested positive for the illness. By Monday, that number had nearly doubled to 27 residents and 22 staffers, according to the San Jose Mercury News.
Contra Costa Health Services officials said four residents have been hospitalized while the others were isolated and being cared for at the facility. They also reported that one person has died from the outbreak.
Officials did not release any additional information of the latest coronavirus victim including the person's age or gender.
Initially, 24 residents had tested positive, but with additional results coming back from the lab another three have been shown to be infected with the virus.
Among the workers at the facility, the numbers have more than tripled. Initially, three staffers were positive. On Monday, 19 others had now tested positive for the coronavirus.
"We're all very concerned," County health officer Dr. Chris Farnitano said at the Friday news conference. "We're all worried. Almost half of the cases are over 80 years old and we know that, with COVID-19, the mortality and the seriousness of the illness is very much related to age."
Farnitano added that all the residents had been tested with 14 coming back negative for the illness.
"Unfortunately this does not come as a surprise," Farnitano said of an outbreak in a senior care facility. "This is something we've been worried about and preparing for for quite some time."
County wide, health officials, reported 31 new coronavirus cases on Monday. Contra Costa has now had 417 confirmed cases and the latest fatality raised the county's death toll to 7.
