By Sandra Emerson |The San Bernardino Sun| April 1, 2020 at 1:00 a.m.
Fifty-one residents and six employees at a Yucaipa nursing home have tested positive for the novel coronavirus and two residents have died, San Bernardino County public health officials said Tuesday afternoon, March 31.
There are 183 positive cases of COVID-19 countywide and there have been 6 deaths.
Seventy-nine specimens were collected from residents and staff at Cedar Mountain Post Acute Rehabilitation, Trudy Raymundo, county public health director, said during a news conference outside Yucaipa City Hall.
“There are still some specimens remaining to be processed and results are still pending,” Raymundo said. “But we have talked to the folks at Cedar Mountain and we have let them know to assume at this point that everyone is positive and to take appropriate measures.” TOP ARTICLES1/5READ MOREThe Go-Gos’ Kathy Valentine shares her wild lifein ‘All I Ever Wanted’
Joined by other county officials, Raymundo shared the timeline of the outbreak.
On Thursday, March 26, Redlands Community Hospital asked county public health workers to expedite a test for a patient coming from the nursing home, Raymundo said.
When the results came back positive, the county notified Cedar Mountain and directed officials to close the facility to admissions and discharges, Raymundo said. Later that day, the patient, an 89-year-old woman with underlying health conditions, died of the disease.
On Friday, three more tests from nursing home residents came back positive, Raymundo said.
On Saturday, county public health officials delivered tests to the nursing home and learned of a potential case at a second facility in Mentone. County officials took tests there as well, but there are no confirmed cases at the facility, Raymundo said.
On Monday, a second resident died. The resident’s age and gender were not immediately available.
Twelve residents of the nursing facility tested positive for COVID-19 over the weekend.
There were 53 confirmed cases in Yucaipa as of Tuesday, March 31, the most of any city in the county.
Yucaipa Mayor David Avila said the city continues to follow guidelines by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and local public safety officials are taking precautions to avoid spreading the virus.
The city also has requested state and federal assistance to get more medical supplies, he said.
“Finally, we need Yucaipa citizens and businesses to strictly adhere to the closures and our citizens to exercise the tremendous power that you and I have in stopping the spread by staying safer at home,” he said.
For information and resources about the virus, residents can call the county’s hotline, 909-387-3911, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.