The Pacific Palisades Atria is an upscale assisted living facility.
A resident of Palisades Atria Park, the assisted living and memory care facility on Sunset across from Gelson’s, passed away on April 13.
Circling the News contacted Atria, and Mike Gentry, senior vice president of care, responded in an April 22 email:
“Sadly, on April 13, we learned that a resident of our Atria Park of Pacific Palisades passed away. This resident received a positive test for COVID-19, but cause of death was determined to be related to an underlying preexisting health condition.
“Our hearts go out to all their family members and loved ones. We have notified the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health and are working with them to take the necessary steps to protect and support our residents. As of today, no other resident or employee has tested positive for COVID-19 at our community.
“We are working tirelessly to ensure we have the appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) and other supplies needed; provide around-the-clock support to our communities; communicate regularly and transparently with our residents, families, employees and state and local health officials; and actively develop new ways to keep our residents and employees safe. The health and well-being of Atria residents and employees is our first priority.”
“Our primary concern right now is supporting our residents and employees,” Gentry said. “We will continue to work with the Los Angeles County Department of Health and are committed to sharing updates with our community as they become available.”
On April 17 during the daily Covid-19 update, Dr. Barbara Ferrer, director of the L.A. County Department of Public Health, said that more than a third of county deaths (36%) have been “primarily residents who were residing in skilled nursing homes and assisted living facilities.” She added that health officials remain “extraordinarily worried” about the outbreaks in institutional facilities, which include nursing homes, treatment centers and jails.
As of noon, on April 22, Public Health listed 729 deaths and 89 percent (648 people) had underlying conditions.
There were 66 new Covid-related deaths on Tuesday. Forty-eight of the deceased were over the age of 65, and 38 of them had underlying health conditions.
There were 13 deceased between 41-65, nine of whom had underlying health conditions; two were in the 18-40 age group and had underlying health conditions.
Of the 66 deaths, a total of 49 had underlying health conditions.
As a reminder, underlying health conditions include: chronic lung disease and asthma, serious heart conditions, people who are immunocompromised – including cancer, HIV or AIDS, smoking, bone marrow or organ transplant, obesity, diabetes, liver disease and those undergoing dialysis.
Nursing homes and assisted living situations generally have people who are over the age of 65 and many of them have underlying health conditions. They also live in higher density and come into contact with more people.
Pacific Palisades, which started at five reported cases on March 19 has been at 33 for about a week.