Dr. Scott Miscovich of Premier Medical Group Hawaii said his team was brought in to Pearl City Nursing Home to test about 100 residents and 200 workers on Friday and Saturday. Four residents and two staff members tested positive for COVID-19.
He said a staff member tested positive for the coronavirus late Thursday, who believed to have contracted it through a family member. According to Dr Miscovich, the employee hadn’t been at work for a while but the administration acted quickly.
“They brought all hands on deck,” Dr. Miscovich said. “We had numerous meetings. They cooperated with all the testing events that we put up, they immediately followed through all the protocols that we were recommending when it came to setting up a true isolation zone, which I helped them design, moving those residents positive into a true what we call red zone or a quarantine ward, and the staff was all trained on the infection control processes.”
The state Department of Health is doing contact tracing.
Other nursing homes and long-term care facilities have faced outbreaks including Hale Nani Rehabilitation and Nursing Center, Kalakaua Gardens and Maunalani Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. While it is impossible to keep COVID-19 out, Dr. Miscovich says such places need to be prepared.
“We need each island to have a designated quarantine facility for intermediate care, skilled nursing. And more importantly, like for example here on Oahu, we have 4,000 people in nursing homes, we have 8,000 in the smaller assisted living home care where they have three people living in someone’s private home. I can’t go too far into it. But I was just made aware last night that there are another couple positives in a small home care, senior living area in the center of the island. What you should do effectively looking at the models in the mainland is we need to take those people immediately out of that facility and put them into a facility that is set and geared to how to help them.”
He also advocates for preventative testing in group living situations, but with Hawaii’s testing capacity diminished by rising cases in other states, he suggests one way resources can be stretched.
“We start doing pooling as a preventative measure in group living facilities throughout the state, where the people have a common path, a common number of people around you, can pool staff in that area too,” he said.
The idea is to combine samples from one group together in one test. If the results are negative, there’s no need to test each sample.
The important thing, Dr Miscovich says, is to test aggressively, especially when it comes to our kupuna.
Following CDC, CMS, and DOH recommendations, we will continue to conduct temperature scans and screen all employees for signs and symptoms of COVID- 19 during their work shift. We will also continue to follow recommendations concerning screening, PPE usage, hand washing and sanitizing, and proper social distancing when appropriate. Staff assigned to the red zone will enter and exit the facility through separate doors and will not interact with others in the building. We will continue to maintain these practices as long as it is recommended by the Department of Health and Premier Medical Group.”
