ALAMEDA COUNTY, Calif. (KRON) — There’s continued concern surrounding senior care facilities in Alameda County after health officials confirmed an outbreak of COVID-19 at Gateway Care and Rehabilitation Center in Hayward.

The number of cases grew on Thurdsay.

25 staff members have been infected, along with 41 residents and nine deaths among residents — so the county is working on containing the spread.

“We’ve been emphasizing everything from the use of personal protective equipment, and really trying to, we call it cohorting of any of the patients with symptoms, and making sure that they’re isolated,” Dr. Erica Pan, Alameda County Health Officer, said. “And as many people know, a lot of recommendations around making sure that no non-essential visitors come in, canceling group activities, we have a long checklist of recommendations.”

To ensure those recommendations will be met going forward, Alameda County is partnering with the state health department to establish a task force for “additional oversight and outbreak response.”

“As this task force gets up and running, we’ll be able to do even more interviewing and possibly on-site visits to try to ensure that the staff and the administration have the resources that they need and the training they need to really prevent this from happening in other facilities,” Dr. Pan said.

Part of the problem has been staff who work at more than one facility and could spread the virus that way.

Gateway is also facing criticism from some family members who say they haven’t been able to get updated information on the health of their loved ones.

The facility had no comment on these allegations for KRON4 as of Thursday.

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