Frequently Asked Questions

Do uninsured people have to pay for their COVID test? No. The cost of collecting the specimen and then testing it for the COVID virus is currently being reimbursed by the State through its emergency disaster fund. If this funding was not available, Kaweah Delta would simply absorb the cost as part of our charitable service to the community.

Do we have the ability to antibody test health care workers and patients? Not at this time, but soon. We have received the necessary equipment to conduct the testing. Currently, we are in the validation process, which takes 5 days, to make sure the test is producing the expected result. We hope to start administering tests mid to late next week. The supplies will be limited so we will most likely start testing employees, physicians and patients. Once more supplies are available, we will expand to more population.

Is there a concern that people will be requesting a test when they are asymptomatic? Yes, this is happening now. People are anxious and scared and want to know. Currently, Kaweah Delta is only testing symptomatic patients. There are not enough testing supplies available to test everyone. We also need to remember if a test is negative, it doesn’t mean you are immune or can’t get it in the future. The antibody testing will become more important to see if an individual has had the virus or are now immune.

What is the plan for resuming elective surgery and what is the anticipated start date? For the past week and half, Dr. Mark Wiseman, the Chair of our OR Governance Committee, Dan Allain, our Vice President of Cardiac and Surgical Services, and Brian Piercy, our Director of Surgical Services, have been working with a team of surgeons, anesthesiologists and surgical services leaders and staff to develop a plan for restarting elective surgeries. The plan will reflect a gradual roll-out that will initially return outpatient and short-stay inpatient surgeries but then slowly expand to include all elective surgeries over what is likely to be 4-5 weeks. At this point in time, we are looking at May 18^th to begin certain elective surgeries and procedures. It is important we be able to test every single patient before surgery for the COVID virus. If they tested positive, we would need to reschedule their surgery. We would also need to make sure we have lead time to bring back staff as well as have enough PPE available. These are all things that are being discussed in the plan to restart elective surgeries.

What role does the County and State play in the decision to re-open elective surgeries? Last week, Governor Newson announced that hospitals were free to begin reopening elective surgeries but then later the same day “walked his statement back” and said that hospitals were “free” to begin “planning” for the return of elective surgeries. He has stated that hospitals must work with their local county health departments to obtain approval but it appears that many hospitals are not waiting for that and are simply redefining what is considered “elective” or “essential”.

It seemed that we had plateaued but now we have experienced a “spike” in COVID diagnosis the past few days. Is that a direct result of nursing homes? Easter visits? Any thoughts? That is correct and it has been disappointing to see. Just over the past several days, the County has been reporting 45-50 new COVID-19 cases across the County. I believe that some of this is attributable to rising cases coming from the four local nursing homes who are now all reporting positive cases among residents, staff and visitors. It could also be a reflection of expanded testing that has been made possible by Kaweah Delta over the past couple of weeks using both the BD Max and Abbott ID Now molecular platforms. And lastly, yes, it could be because of Easter and the many folks who chose not to follow recommendations of social distancing, shelter-in-place, hand hygiene, wearing of face masks, etc.

If we do have another “spike” are we prepared with proper protective equipment for your staff? It largely depends on the size of the spike. As PPE has become more available over the past two weeks, we have significantly increased our distribution and use among physicians and staff. We continue to decrease our need for “re-use” and “extended use” but still maintain some measure of it to conserve PPE in case a large “spike” does come. We do continue to order and receive shipments of PPE and hope to receive some of the 200 million in masks purchased by the Governor.

Does the County distribute masks to organizations based on the number of patients you have? Yes, they have an allocation process. Facilities across the county, Kaweah Delta included, report their inventory levels, staff and patient volume, and the county determines what is needed. We work very closely with them.

If a loved one is severely ill with either COVID or another diagnosis, would we consider allowing one masked visitor? Yes, it has been our practice/policy since we implemented our “no visitor” policy. If a patient is not likely to survive, COVID or other diagnosis, they are allowed to have a loved one by their side 24/7. We provide the visitor with the proper PPE, mask, shield, gloves, gowns, etc. and escort them to the unit to be with their loved one.

Is Kaweah Delta doing plasma treatment? Kaweah Delta did administer its first antibody-enriched plasma last week to a critically-ill COVID-19 patient under the convalescent care exception. I don’t know if we will continue to try this treatment but we have adopted and implemented a formal protocol to guide our providers in the use of the treatment.

While Hydroxychloroquine has now fallen out of favor due to an observed increase in death and other complications, a recent, formal, controlled study of Remdesivir has proven promising in shortening the amount of time a patient must stay on a ventilator and reducing the severity of the patient’s condition.

Lastly, Kaweah Delta has been invited to participate in a stem cell therapy trial designed specifically by doctors and scientists to treat respiratory and lung diseases and conditions. This therapy has been designed by a group of veterinarians who used to have ties to the Central Valley and initially developed the stem cell therapy for expensive race horses with similar respiratory and lung diseases and conditions. Congressman Devin Nunes brought this opportunity through his past relationship with these vets.

Can the general public help with the "tracing and tracking" element in the testing for the future months? I believe so. While I don’t know all of the specifics as to how it will work, having large armies of “tracers and trackers” will be a key element in opening our society and economy back up. When someone tests newly-positive, the individual will be interviewed to determine who that person has had contact with and then the tracers and trackers will reach out to those individuals to help quarantine and test them. This will be an enormous undertaking and likely will require the support of many volunteers.

It was said last week that if a person tested positive for COVID-19, and then died from another potential cause such as heart attack or lung cancer, then the death will be reported as a COVID-19death. Does that mean that if a client of Redwood Springs who tested positive a week ago and then passes 8 weeks from now from “natural causes” will be reported as a COVID-19 death? Probably not after eight weeks but certainly within a few weeks. We actually have had and still have COVID-19 positive patients in our hospital that have now been with us more than a month and our still testing positive. While we hear about being “cured” after 14 days post-infection, that might just be an average with a certain number of outliers that could go well beyond that.

Australia has been locked down for at least a month during their hottest summer months. Why would we expect a lowering of COVID-19 as the United States transitions into our summer months? Probably wishful thinking on our part as we think about how the flu dies off as the weather warms, both in the U.S. and Australia. While the coronavirus exhibits many characteristics similar to the flu, we don’t have evidence right now that it similarly disappears as the weather heats up.

How has COVID affected KDHCD financially?
It has been devastating to our finances, like every other hospital. This is not just because of the cost of combatting the virus or an increase in expenses. We have seen an enormous decline in our revenue because we have closed 40% of our surgeries, which is the financial engine of the hospital. In the spirit of transparency, we took a $5.7 million dollar loss in the month of March, the highest loss in our history. We expect April to be worse. We, like so many others, are trying to find ways to survive and reduce costs. Unfortunately, the biggest expense is labor. We have had to cut hours of our employees, dock them, and in some instances, furlough them. We are expecting, once this passes, to be able to bring all of our employees back.

Employee Emergency Relief Fund
A fund was created a number of years ago for employees who have gone through a catastrophic event in their life. Due to this pandemic, we are allowing community members and employees to contribute to this fund to help some of our employees. More information to come at our next meeting.

Do you have updates on the Qventus predictive modeling tool?
Yes, it is indicating we hit the apex around April 25^th. We will plateau for about a week and start coming down the curve this weekend. We are not sure if that will change due to the recent spike in cases over the last 3 days. Gary will work with Dan Allain in the Command Center to see if there are any changes.