COVID-19 outbreak reported at Live Oak assisted living facility

LIVE OAK, Calif. (KION) Santa Cruz County officials report that there is a COVID-19 outbreak at an assisted living facility for seniors in Live Oak.

County officials say the outbreak is at The Maple House II, and there are 20 confirmed cases. Nine of the cases are among staff members and 11 are residents.

The outbreak started when a staff member began showing symptoms on Oct. 30. One of the staff members have since been hospitalized, and nobody has died.

One of the 11 residents with the virus is Mark Boolootian’s 93-year-old father.

“At 93 having this thing I think you’re just in a wait and see for a while,” Boolootian said.

Mark’s father, who has sepsis, had a fever and lost his appetite but the family believes he’s on the recovery side of the virus.

“If you ask him, he always feels fine. He never complains.”

Mark has nothing but high praise for the Maple House II safety precautions during the pandemic, but the strict measures still make it difficult to prevent an outbreak in a congregate living setting.

"Our main method of transmission, like most counties, is person-to-person household transmission, and these types of facilities are basically a large household with a lot of vulnerable residents living in them,” Santa Cruz County Spokesman Jason Hoppin said.

The center is a long-term care facility, but it is not considered a skilled nursing facility. It is licensed for 40 residents, but county officials did not know how many people are currently there.

Coronavirus spread rapidly through the skilled nursing facility Watsonville Post Acute in late September. More than half of the residents contracted the virus and 16 have died. The health officer says that facility is now two testing cycles free of COVID-19.

The California Department of Public Health has gotten involved, and the county is reviewing plans to make sure facilities are following them carefully.