As the quest for sobriety continues during the pandemic, state-licensed and certified addiction treatment facilities have reported 89 COVID-19 cases at 55 different sites, according to data from the Department of Health Care Services.
The infections have hit 44 staffers and 45 clients, with no deaths reported thus far.
Separately, mental health programs logged another 106 cases of COVID-19 — 94 patients and 12 staff — at 12 different locations in California. Again, there were no deaths reported.
That’s a total of 195 coronavirus cases at California’s behavioral and mental health facilities through mid-June.
The names of all facilities reporting cases are now online and regularly updated at bit.ly/3fS3AaI, “to offer a snapshot of COVID-19 in behavioral health licensed and/or certified facilities … and do not imply wrongdoing on the part of any facility,” the state site says.
Thirty-four facilities in Los Angeles, including one for pregnant and post-partum women, have reported case. In Orange County, five facilities reported cases; in Riverside, four; and in San Bernardino, one.
But the exact number of cases at each facility is masked most of the time.
“Privacy protections prevent the Department of Health Care Services from releasing detailed information that, because of the small numbers involved, could potentially identify someone who has received treatment for a substance use disorder,” said spokeswoman Carol Sloan by email.
The COVID-19 emergency is a first, so the state can’t put the case numbers in historical perspective, she said.
Some workers inside residential rehabs worry. As most are tract homes in single-family neighborhoods, with only six beds, there’s usually not enough funding to keep therapists and similar staffers at a single site.
Instead, health providers often travel from house to house over the course of a day to work with different clients. Some workers fear that might stoke the spread of disease.
Workers in Orange County, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisal, said that some rehabs aren’t requiring employees or clients to wear masks and are continuing group therapy meetings with 20 or more people, despite official restrictions on the size of gatherings. The recommended six-foot separation between people is often flouted as well, they said.
While many addiction treatment centers have developed protocols requiring face masks, temperature checks, testing and isolation of new clients, as well as the use of virtual meetings whenever possible and practical, some facilities apparently aren’t making the same effort.
“The employees are forced to deal with this every day, wondering if they are going to catch the virus,” a woman said by email. “Management doesn’t care because money talks and employee health doesn’t matter.”
Sloan said the DHCS encourages providers to follow the California Department of Public Health’s guidance and work with local county health departments. The American Society of Addiction Medicine has issued guidance on avoiding infection in residential treatment centers, as has the National Council on Behavioral Health.
Workers can file safety complaints with the state Department of Industrial Relations, and with the DHCS as well.
