Santa Clara County health officials say there has been a surge in COVID-19 cases at local homeless shelters and long term care facilities in recent weeks.
While the recent uptick in cases at congregate settings is not a surprise, there are serious concerns that it could lead to additional outbreaks.
“It’s difficult to do the kind of social distancing that you would want in a regular situation, and so the virus has a chance to spread more easily in congregate settings,” said the county’s deputy health officer Dr. George Han.
One of the most recent outbreaks happened at the Boccardo Reception Center in San Jose, where 60 people have tested positive, including four staff members.
“Once this outbreak was identified, what we did was we put everyone, transferred everyone who was positive into a motel so they could isolate safely,” he said.
Anyone who may have been exposed to people who tested positive have also been transferred to individual housing.
“The reason for that was because due to the size of the outbreak, we believe that most folks, most residents who were in this shelter were in fact exposed at some point recently and so we want to take that extra precaution to protect as many people as possible,” said Dr. Han.
Another recent outbreak at the skilled nursing facility Amberwood Gardens Rehab Center saw more than 150 cases.
County officials are also monitoring a temporary homeless shelter at South Hall, one of the county’s biggest, where seven cases have been reported in the last few weeks.
Dr. Han says the outbreaks are a reflection of an ongoing surge in California.
“The most important thing that we can do to prevent outbreaks in congregate settings is to reduce the number of cases in the community.”