SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (KRON) – An alarming number of COVID-19 infections at another Bay Area nursing facility.

One of the health care workers spoke with KRON4 who describes how the situation is being handled.

“On this side almost everybody’s fine now. Before we had some person’s they were positive,” Zoila Huerta said.

In fact, health care workers and residents combined for a total of 62 positive COVID-19 cases at the Central Gardens Skilled Nursing Facility in San Francisco.

Certified nursing assistant Zoila Huerta is among those whose tests came back negative.

“I’m doing okay. Three weeks ago I went to handle most of the patients that were positive but now almost everybody is okay. No fever,” Huerta said.

According to the California Department of Public Health, there are 1,224 skilled nursing facilities in the state of California.

254 facilities reported having one or more cases of COVID-19.

Central Gardens being among the highest number of cases in one location with 62 positives.

The situation has landed on the radar of the San Francisco Department of Public Health Director Dr. Grant Colfax.

“When we became aware, when we were first notified on March 30th, we immediately started collaborating with the facility and with the state, in terms of ensuring that as much was being done as possible to protect both the residents and the staff,” Dr. Colfax said.

“I laid out on April 10th our new strategies and plans to protect our seniors and redoubling our efforts. Remember one of the first executive orders that we put out in this state was around guidelines in our skilled nursing facilities,” Governor Newsom said.

The question of why there are so many cases at Central Gardens in the midst of a city wide shelter-in-place order remains a mystery.

No reports of any COVID-19 related deaths.

Reporter: “So right now everybody is negative?”

Zoila Huerta: “Right here yes on this side.”

Reporter: “But this side no?”

Zoila Huerta: “This side and the other in the back, they still have positives.”

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