Nursing facility combats scabies outbreak, limits visitation
A scabies outbreak at a skilled nursing facility in Soledad led to reduced visitation at the center
By Felix Cortez
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SOLEDAD, California (KSBW) — A scabies outbreak at a skilled nursing facility in Soledad led to reduced visitation at the center, warning signs going up, and health leaders offering recommendations to stop the spread of scabies.
That outbreak was first identified on Friday at the “Eden Valley Care Center” in Soledad.
A sign reading “outbreak alert” went up outside, and the center immediately moved to limit visitation to protect patients at the skilled nursing facility.
“Made sure that everything was clean because our facility prides itself on its cleanliness. Our housekeeping department has been on top of it, making sure that they deep clean everything,” said Adriana Gonzalez, spokeswoman for Eden Valley.
The facility wouldn’t specifically say how many patients at the 59-bed facility got scabies, but the spokesperson said it was a handful, in the single digits.
“We just know we treated everybody just as an abundance of caution,” said Gonzalez.
The spokesperson said no employees were infested with the flesh-burrowing mites that cause a pimple-like rash and extreme itching, but at the recommendation of county health leaders, Eden Valley Care Center offered treatment to all employees and patients, even if they didn’t display symptoms.
“We did have an outbreak here at Eden Valley that has successively been treated, so we are just exploring to make sure that we don’t have any additional things, but it has been treated. We’re working with the county health department to make sure that we follow all the procedures,” Gonzalez said.
The outbreak alert at the entrance to the nursing facility is expected to stay up through the weekend out of an abundance of caution, and the center is warning anyone displaying symptoms of scabies to stay away from visiting loved ones until those symptoms go away.
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