Berkeley nursing homes begin to welcome visitors, volunteers
David McAllister/Staff
Chaparral House is one of many nursing homes in Berkeley navigating the challenges of caring for a vulnerable population during the COVID-19 pandemic. It has begun to allow visitors to come meet their friends and family under certain restrictions.
After more than a yearlong struggle against the COVID-19 pandemic, some nursing homes in the city of Berkeley are slowly transitioning back to normalcy, opening their doors to volunteers and visitors in a controlled fashion.
Chaparral House is one of many nursing homes in the city navigating the challenges of caring for a vulnerable population during the pandemic. According to licensed home administrator Kj Page, the spread of COVID-19 has completely transformed operations.
Of the cases Berkeleyside has been able to learn about, most of the individuals who have died were Black, male, age 80 or older, or some combination of those factors. Most of them had multiple causes of death listed in addition to COVID-19, such as pneumonia, respiratory failure, cardiac or cardiopulmonary arrest and septic shock, among other conditions.
On Wednesday, Berkeley updated the number of the city’s total COVID-19 fatalities to 22, with the cumulative number of lab-confirmed coronavirus cases at 2,430. More than half of the city’s total positive COVID-19 tests have been reported since early December.
Ever since the city’s first COVID-19 death was reported in April 2020, Berkeleyside has been asking city staff for information about who has succumbed to the disease. The city has repeatedly declined to provide even aggregate data about age, race or gender, citing medical privacy laws.
Dr. Lisa Hernandez discusses vaccine distribution in Berkeley during a virtual town hall on Jan. 4, 2021.
The Berkeley Public Health Department has vaccinated nearly 500 frontline healthcare workers since the COVID-19 vaccine was approved in December, and hundreds more doses are in the process of being distributed at local hospitals and senior care facilities.
The city has received 1,100 doses of the Moderna vaccine to date in addition to the 975 Pfizer doses Alta Bates received in December, according to Lisa Warhuus, director of the health, housing and community services (HHCS) department. She described the rollout as an “unprecedented” work in progress during Mayor Jesse Arreguín’s first virtual town hall of the year on Monday evening.
3 more people in Berkeley have died from COVID-19, city reports
The total death toll in Berkeley now stands at 12, with 1,854 COVID-19 cases reported.
Signs at the entrance to the Curative COVID-19 testing facility at the Berkeley Adult School on San Pablo Avenue. Photo: Pete Rosos
Three more people who live in Berkeley have died of COVID-19, bringing the city’s death toll to 12, the city reported Thursday.
Up until the last day of the year, Berkeley’s deaths from the virus had remained at nine. The majority of other deaths happened in the summer, with the last occurring on Sept. 25 during the previous case surge.
Update, Dec. 23: The number of active cases among residents has increased from 29 to 34, and staff cases remain at 12, according to updated state figures. (Note: this link has been replaced with the most up-to-date numbers as of Jan. 8)
Update, Dec. 23: An 86-year-old woman who tested positive for COVID-19 died at the care home early Tuesday morning, the Alameda County Coroner’s Office confirmed. The cause of her death is still under investigation.
Original story: The Silverado memory care home on Sacramento Street (at Bancroft) in Berkeley has been hit with an outbreak of COVID-19 cases among staff and residents since Thanksgiving, despite successfully avoiding infections from the beginning of the pandemic in March, the long-term care home confirmed.