Covid deaths reported at San Francisco Jewish senior properties – J.
Three residents of the San Francisco Jewish Life Campus have died from complications related to Covid, according to an update on its website.
The SFCJL is now the second Jewish senior citizen facility in the Bay Area to have coronavirus deaths. Eight deaths were reported in October as part of the memory care program at Rhoda Goldman Plaza in San Francisco.
“While residents were near the end of their lives near the end of COVID,” said a letter signed by SFCJL CEO Daniel Ruth, “the board, staff and other members of our community are deeply saddened to hear their deaths.” These residents have been members of our community for an extended period of time and as [a] The result is that our employees have developed deep and meaningful relationships with them, and we are all feeling this tremendous loss. “
Ruth described this time as “the most difficult time in our 150-year history”.
The SFCJL, one of the largest long-term senior facilities in the Bay Area of 325 residents and 700 employees, announced a “significant outbreak” of the virus last week. Thirty-nine residents in a single quarantine unit have tested positive since December 7th. A total of 33 employees have tested positive since March.
The last facility update did not specify the number of direct caregivers in the affected unit. SFCJL was said to be working to contain the outbreak with help from local and state health officials and the facility’s infectious disease doctor.
Since the pandemic started in March, the SFCJL had largely avoided a surge in the coronavirus. Before December 7th, only two long-term residents and 22 employees had tested positive.
The current outbreak was discovered after a caregiver tested positive in the week of November 30th and a decision was made to quarantine the unit.
The news of the coronavirus deaths comes just before the SFCJL will receive a shipment of the Covid-19 vaccine sometime between December 21 and 28. In an email to J. Dec. 17, SFCJL spokesman Marcus Young said they will receive these 195 doses.
At Rhoda Goldman Plaza, 15 employees and 25 residents have tested positive for coronavirus since the pandemic began, according to the state Department of Social Services. In the Reutlingen community in Danville, seven employees and five residents had tested positive by December 8, according to Todd Murch, who currently runs the facility.
Coronavirus cases explode in city and state. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco reported an average of 280 cases per day this week and a record 335 cases on December 16. On December 17, the Department of Health ordered a mandatory 10-day quarantine for anyone traveling to the city from outside the Bay Area. The order came into effect on December 18th and will last at least until January 4th.
California is also seeing an increase. In early November, the state saw a seven-day average of 4,138 cases. According to CNN, that average rose to 38,774 on December 17th.