Councilmembers Call for Review Into Health Department’s Response to COVID-19 Outbreak in Long-Term Health Care Facilities

Vice Mayor Tyron Hampton called for an investigation into the city’s response to the Coronavirus outbreak in local long term health care facilities.

“Neighbors are dying! People are dead in unusually high numbers and I for one want to know why,” Hampton said.

According to Hampton a full report or investigation is necessary to understand so the city can be better prepared moving forward.

At Monday’s Zoom meeting of the council, Hampton pointed out that he began asking about the facilities in late March.

“We have our own health department,” Hampton said. “We have to be ahead of things. I’m asking why we didn’t have a faster response.”

Councilman Victor Gordo also called for a “very thorough look” at the health department’s response.

“I am not convinced that the response of our health department was what it should have been,” Gordo said. “We need to have a plan in the event we have a second wave of this or any other health emergency. This should not be viewed as anything but a review for the purpose of learning what actions would have better protected the residents of Pasadena. Let’s be prepared to take those actions in the event that the COVID presents a second wave or there’s another emergency in the future. We would be negligent to not look carefully at what was done or not done.”

According to City Manager Steve Mermell although the city plays a part in the city’s health care facilities, those facilities are outside of the local jurisdiction.

“While our health department has a role when it comes to those facilities, generally speaking they fall under the jurisdiction of the state and state licensing, but understanding these are Pasadena residents we effectively inserted ourselves, and we’ve been aggressive,” Mermell said.

Mermell did not say if staff would conduct the probe and further direction on the issue was not provided by the council.

Most of the Pasadena’s 60 fatalities have come out of the city’s long term health care facilities.

According to Hampton, a similar situation in Washington State should have served as a warning to the city’s health department.

According to the Seattle Times as of April 18, 300 people had died inside the states long term health care facilities.

But a month earlier, the virus was already decimating vulnerable residents in those facilities.

The Pasadena Health Department released an issue in mid-April mandating licensed skilled nursing facilities (SNF) and assisted living facilities (ALF) follow certain infection prevention and control measures.

At that point seven residents had died all inside the city’s long term health care facilities.

The order called on the facilities to follow the current guidance of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the California Department of Public Health, and the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid.

The measures include limited entry of individuals into facilities, required symptom screening for all employees prior to work, suspension of communal dining and activities, separation of patients with COVID-19 from those who do not have the illness, and use of proper personal protective effective against COVID-19.

“Since March 9 I had been pressuring publicly and privately staff to act in a faster manner based on information we had from Washington State.
And to finally take action on my request 30 days later is simply unacceptable.”