Patton State Hospital to vaccinate all sufferers towards COVID-19 by this week amid main outbreak – San Bernardino Solar

Amid a rapidly spreading COVID-19 outbreak that infected nearly 500 patients and killed 15, Patton State Hospital in San Bernardino is well on its way to vaccinating all of its consenting patients by Friday, January 22.

More than 1,200 patients are admitted to the mental health facility, the largest of five in the state system.

Patton and the Department of State Hospitals face litigation from a disability rights nonprofit and an urge by a federal judge to put in place a vaccination schedule for all staff and patients to help contain the spread of the deadly novel coronavirus in Patton and the four other hospitals in Atascadero, Coalinga, Napa and Metropolitan State Hospital in Norwalk.

During a telephone hearing on Tuesday, Jan. 12, U.S. District Court Judge Jesus G. Bernal ordered state officials the number of patients and staff infected with the virus, the number of patients and staff who have received the vaccine to date and a timeline of when all patients and staff were vaccinated.

First in infections, second in deaths

On Friday, January 15, Patton ran the state’s five psychiatric hospitals for COVID-19 infections and was runner-up in the number of patient deaths. As of May 30, 15 patients have died and 478 patients tested positive for the virus. At Coalinga State Hospital, 408 patients tested positive for the virus and 16 died, according to tracking data from the Department of State Hospitals.

In Atascadero, 185 patients tested positive for the virus and 11 were hospitalized, but no patients have died. At the Metropolitan State Hospital in Norwalk, 368 patients tested positive and 11 died, and 152 patients tested positive for COVID-19 and 11 died at Napa State Hospital, according to state data.

The vaccinations started on January 6th

In a statement filed in federal court on Wednesday, Jan. 13, Janon Wallace, Patton’s executive director, said Patton began approving 129 of its highest-risk patients – those with three or more pre-existing conditions – on Jan. 6 vaccinate. 77 of these patients consented to and received vaccinations. Three other patients also received vaccinations for a total of 80.

On Thursday, January 14th, Patton began scheduling vaccinations for the entire patient population and expects to have all consenting and qualified patients vaccinated by Friday. After that date, vaccinations will continue to be offered to patients, including those who were previously disqualified by their primary care providers or who initially declined to give consent, Wallace said.

Among Patton employees, 1,110 of 2,516 employees – or 44% of employees – received their first dose of vaccine on Tuesday, Jan. 12, Wallace said.

Group pushed for transfers

Attorneys for the Oakland-based California-based disability rights charity initially urged the transfer of more than 300 Patton high-risk patients to safer, non-congregational facilities during the outbreak, claiming the state already had 272 of them deemed “clinical and forensic” appropriate deems to meet. “

In response to Wallace’s statement, patient advocates agreed that the federal patient vaccination schedule was “an important step in protecting patients,” but noted that patients and staff have only received the first of two required doses of vaccine to date required to achieve the desired results.

“There may not be enough COVID-19 vaccines to provide a second dose of the vaccine to all DSH Patton patients,” Disability Rights California attorney Anne Hadreas said in her response filed with the court.

DSH spokesman Ken August said in an email on Friday that Patton had received allocations of both Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines and patients who were vaccinated received a second dose according to the manufacturer’s recommended schedule is offered. However, he did not say what the schedule for the second dose of the vaccine was or if there was still a schedule for the second dose.

August also said that similar to Patton, patients in the state’s other four psychiatric hospitals will be vaccinated daily, upon approval.

Still concerned about the spread

Hadreas remains concerned about the continued spread of virus in Patton as the vaccination process progresses, alleging that state officials must continue to take active measures to protect patients and minimize further transmission of the virus, as there is full protection against COVID-19 may not be done until as long as 28 days after the second dose was given.

Patton must continue to ensure that the hospital is properly ventilated and rehabilitated, and that quarantine, social distancing, and face-covering protocols are in place and followed.

“We continue to worry about the safety of customers who are forced to live in confined spaces with inadequate ventilation. Until everyone can be fully vaccinated, the hospital must take all available measures to ensure patient safety, ”Hadreas said in an email on Friday.

In the meantime, the patients’ attorneys apply to move patients to other facilities.

“Plaintiffs reserve the right to raise these issues again if the defendants’ vaccination schedule is slower than expected or if the defendants fail to implement COVID-19 infection control measures currently in place in Patton,” Hadreas said.

Bernal has another hearing scheduled for 11 a.m. on Friday.