According to the Lassen County Office of Emergency Services Lassen County currently has zero confirmed cases of COVID-19.
A total of 91 tests have been administered here with 83 negative results. 9 tests are still pending.
Tuesday afternoon the OES released an update explaining that residents and employees of skilled nursing homes and residential care facilities are among the most vulnerable during the COVID-19 pandemic. On April 10th, Governor Newsom outlined steps to protect the residents and employees of these facilities.
Susanville is home to multiple facilities of this type and the health of these residents and employees is important. Because of this the OES says that our community needs to continue restricting visits to these facilities to reduce exposure of the coronavirus.
In his statement Newsom stated, “Older Californians and those who are medically fragile are at higher risk of becoming seriously ill due to COVID-19, which is why we took early action to restrict visitors to these facilities. Now we are providing even more support for these facilities, their residents and staff who serve them.”
The following is a partial list of steps taken by the state of California to protect this population.
- Prioritizing testing for patients discharged from a hospital to a skilled nursing facility to ensure patients who test positive are transferred to a facility that can safely provide care to the residents and also protect COVID-19 negative residents.
- California will also prioritize the testing of symptomatic residents and potentially exposed residents to ensure they are immediately isolated;
- Prioritizing personal protective equipment to facilities with COVID-19 positive staff or residents and facilities that are at increased risk to COVID-19;
- Ensuring that families of nursing home residents are informed and educated on COVID-19 safety protections for their loved ones.
