Licensed health care facilities in Contra Costa County will have to screen all staff and visitors for high temperatures and must wear masks under a new health order that goes into effect today, Contra Costa Health Services officials said.
County health officer Dr. Chris Farnitano issued the order Monday as part of Contra Costa County’s attempt to limit the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus.
The order applies to residential care sites such as nursing and senior care homes, psychiatric facilities, group homes, recovery houses and homeless shelters.
Anyone who is not a patient or resident at the facility will have to undergo temperature and symptom screening, and cannot enter if they’ve had a respiratory illness or fever in the past seven days or a temperature of 100 degrees Fahrenheit or higher.
Staff and visitors to the facilities must also wear surgical masks or cloth ones if surgical masks are not available, and staff will have to log the screenings to help keep track of any possible illnesses.
“The age and health of many county residents, particularly those living in congregate care settings, places them at higher risk of serious health complications, including death, from COVID-19,” Farnitano said in a news release.
“This order is another precaution we can take as a community to protect our vulnerable residents.”
18 comments
It’s mind-boggling that it took the county health commissioner Chris Farnitano this long to enact something so basic towards the protection of our seniors and others who are most at risk.
This started a couple weeks ago. They had to order the temperature guns. This is constantly unfolding and entrance to the Hospital and Clinics always has a Deputy on guard, no visitors allowed for the last six or more weeks. Dr. Farnitano along with the other Health Executives care about the health of the people in this County.
It’s about time! They should have been doing that since day one. My mother spent her final years in an independent living home, then an assisted living home, and finally a skilled nursing home for her advanced dementia. I observed that all were part of large, often nationwide companies. The managers in these facilities, while able to handle day to day operations seemed to have little knowledge or authority to deal with anything that wasn’t routine. Money was tight and dealing with the home office could be intimidating.
My mother lives in an assisted care facility here in Claycord. In early March they went into lockdown. No visits from anyone, only essential doctor visits, all staff wearing masks and gloves. Soon after, they stopped trying to enforce social distancing, and went to a ‘shelter/eat in your room’ policy. Temperature of residents taken at least twice a day, staff entering a resident’s room sign-in and out. Maybe the County should have been following their lead earlier.
They are doing a much better job of containing this virus than that lab in Wuhan.
An other knee jerk reaction. I have way more faith in our private sector medical professionals to make these decisions. Look at the damage our county and city government officials have made to our economy. Very easy for Dr. Farnitano and all career bureaucrats and politicians to lecture all of us who have lost jobs, businesses, relationships, and life savings. After all, the good doctor and all government workers/pensioners still get there income. We are not “all” in this together!!! Quite the contrary. Yes, 20,000 Americans have already died from the Wuhan virus but where was Dr. Farnitano last year when 60,000 Americans died of the flu; and the year before that when 80,000 Americans died? Why wasn’t there a rush then to a 100% shelter in place? And just who is Dr. Farnitano and the 6 other Bay Area health directors who were the first in the nation to call for 100% SIP? Certainly they were directed by someone above their pay grade. Every American needs to be VERY concerned about a handful of Bureaucrats being able to unilaterally shut down an entire economy when we already know that 98% of those infected with the virus will recover.
@ Safety Second,
You must really be upset with our country’s Game Show host.
Apparently he still hasn’t gotten around to reading the U.S. Constitution and has a clue about State’s Rights!
“When somebody is the President of the United States, the authority is total. And that’s the way it’s got to be — it’s total. And the governors know that.”
– – – Donald Trump, 4/14/20
Actually, San Francisco was the first to call for SIP, Stay At Home, or whatever you want to call it. Then Newsom and finally Trump. Trump has a better grasp of what it will do to the economy it appears. Funny that liberals are critical of him when this wasn’t his idea.
60,000 from the flu last entire year? We’re at 20,000 and about 3 months in. And this is WITH social distancing. Can you imagine without? Get a grip.
If companies are going to REQUIRE masks……
WHERE CAN YOU PURCHASE A MASK. N95 of better.
And NOT online as they are not available or they are not shipping until June.
I have yet to find a mask, of any quality, in-stock in a store.
You can buy masks from china. It might take until June to get them.
We get everything from China but that will stop because in 4 year trump had brought soooooo much manufacturing back to the USa d has created sooooooo many manufacturing jobs. He promised remember?
AND THEY ARE COVERED IN CORONA FLAKES:(
By the way, whatever happened to that “miracle” drug for treating Covid-19 that Trump was hyping called hydroxychloroquine?
Oh wait.
I think someone here (named Mike) was talking a few weeks ago about how it impacted QT intervals, prolonging them, which can cause arrhythmia, and even sudden death.
A Brazilian study just got aborted after trying to enroll 440 severely ill Covid-19 patients to test two 600 mg doses of choloroquine a day for 10 days.
They stopped the study after 81 people had been treated. Why?
Because 25% of those assigned with the above dose developed heart rhythm problems. And by the 6th day of treatment, 11 PATIENTS HAD DIED.
where is April 14th coronavirus updates?
Why on earth is no one thinking about the news delivery service? We are doing our best to stay healthy. But we only deliver to senior citizens. One of ours is sick and we can’t do enough to keep our selves safe from getting sick if there’s one in our group. I wouldn’t say anything, but the majority of newspapers go to the elderly. If we are taking all these precautions it’s really really counter intuitive to deliver to their front door. Ive stayed isolated so i can keep delivering. I wear gloves and a mask. I stay 6 feet away. But it won’t help anything if someone sneezes in my work place
CCHS dropped the ball, big time. They’re empty suits, as expected.
Pueblo del aapl detox center staff is no wearing masks as of last night. A patient detoxing has a compromised immune system and staff should wear them.
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