Long Beach VA Confirms Multiple Staff Members, Patients Positive for COVID-19

UPDATED AT 2:09 p.m. 3/31/2020 with new county COVID-19 confirmed case numbers and first county healthcare worker death.

Multiple VA Long Beach Healthcare System employees have tested positive for COVID-19, hospital officials said, though specific numbers were not disclosed.

This is the first publicly reported incidence of hospital employees testing positive for the respiratory virus in Long Beach.

At least 185 VA employees in the nation have tested positive for the novel coronavirus as of late last week, Mark Takano (D-Calif.), chairman of the Veterans Affairs Committee, said Friday on the House floor.

Employees contracting coronavirus is not only a growing concern at VA Long Beach, but for hospital leaders and healthcare workers across the city and beyond, as the number of cases are expected to continue their rapid uptick in the Southland. In LA County there were 3,011 confirmed COVID-19 cases as of Tuesday afternoon, a nearly five-fold increase from a week prior.

Of those cases, “dozens” have been healthcare workers, said LA County Public Health Director Dr. Barbara Ferrer during a briefing Monday. The county today confirmed its first healthcare worker death.

Long Beach VA spokesperson Richard Beam did not say what employee category those who were infected at his facility fell into or whether any of them were Long Beach residents.

“Every healthcare worker is at risk regardless of role and it’s not just born on the ‘direct patient care teams,’” he said.

According to Beam, employees who test positive for the coronavirus are self-quarantining at home and are under the care of their primary care physician.

“The employee would not be allowed to return to duty until cleared by both their own physician, but additionally, our occupational health team,” Beam said.

The Veterans Health Administration – Office of Emergency Management’s COVID-19 Response Plan has said that absenteeism caused in part by illness or fear of illness could cut staff levels across the board by up to 40% if the outbreak becomes widespread enough.

Long Beach VA Director Walt Dannenberg also confirmed that multiple veterans have tested positive for COVID-19 at the facility. However, Dannenberg would not give a definitive tally or say where the patients were from. This announcement comes two weeks after the hospital reported its first COVID-19 patient, who was not a Long Beach resident.

Meanwhile, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases citywide has doubled as of Friday to 115.

Dannenberg said his VA facility is preparing for the trickle of cases to turn into an “impending surge” of infections.

Last week Mayor Robert Garcia warned of a grim reality if the public does not heed the state’s stay-at-home order and practice social distancing.

“We will not have enough (hospital) beds to be able to treat everyone that needs support,” he said at a press conference.

The hope of health officials is that by limiting crowds and interpersonal interactions as much as possible, the rate of infection will be kept from reaching levels that could overrun and cripple the healthcare system, as has happened in New York City and parts of Italy.

Efforts to shore up capacity and reduce transmission of the virus are underway at the Long Beach VA facility. This comes after a surprise visit by the Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General earlier in the month found several shortcomings in the facility’s COVID-19 response, including lax visitor restrictions.

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Visiting hours have now been completely eliminated and the hospital is postponing elective medical procedures while encouraging virtual consultations—sometimes referred to as “telemedicine”—when possible to lower traffic at the facility.

Staff is also rushing to retool hospital wards in an effort to increase the number of beds, including those used for intensive care, Dannenberg said. Currently the hospital is authorized to operate 400 beds.

Although shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) have been reported at hospitals around the nation, causing consternation among healthcare workers, Dannenburg said that the Long Beach VA has an “appropriate amount” of PPE for its staff.

“We are working to make sure that we’re maximizing our resources so we can maintain those appropriate levels for our staff,” he said.

Makeshift screening stations have been set up outside of the hospital’s doors and anyone who walks up is being asked a series of questions to determine if they are symptomatic or have been at risk of contracting COVID-19. Even hospital employees are being checked.

Tents have been erected on the parking lot in front of the hospital where chest X-rays and other coronavirus-related testing is being conducted to keep those suspected of having the illness away from other patients.

On Monday, the hospital began in-house lab testing for COVID-19, Dannenberg said.

“We’re no longer having to send our samples out to other VA’s or reference labs in the community which are backlogged and taking a while,” he said.

The Long Beach VA, which has 16 ICU beds, is currently still only treating veterans, but if area hospitals become overwhelmed by coronavirus patients, at least some part of the VA could be opened up to non-veterans, as was the case recently in New York City. 

“If there was a time where the surge reached a point where there was a need for the VA to jump in, (we would) activate what we call the fourth mission,” Dannenberg said.

The fourth mission refers to the VA’s mandate to serve as a back up during national emergencies such as war, a natural disaster, or in this case, a public health crisis.

But for that to happen, a city or county would need to request that the facility loosen its admission requirements, and the ultimate decision would lie with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Dannenburg said that such a request has yet to be made of the Long Beach VA.

The Long Beach Joint Information Center did not reply to an email seeking confirmation as of press time.

However, the same inspector general report that found issues with Long Beach VA’s COVID-19 measures, also said that the facility’s leaders had no written agreements in place to share ICU beds or personal protective equipment supplies with other community hospitals.

We asked Long Beach VA officials whether this has changed since the report was issued, but have not received a response by press time. We will update this story when we hear back.

Additional research by Kevin Flores.

COVID-19 VA Veteran Resources:

• Nurse Advice Line for healthcare-related questions: 877-252-4866
• Check appointments, look up lab results, refill prescriptions, and more on the VA’s online portal
• VA Long Beach on Facebook
• VA Long Beach on Twitter