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Frequently Asked Questions

Community Engagement Virtual Meeting

Community Engagement Virtual Meeting - Thursday, November 12

  • Question #1: Current Numbers for the County. Watch Video
  • Question #2: Is there information regarding the length of hospital stay for Covid-19 patients currently compared to earlier months? Watch Video
  • Question #3: A few people have reached out regarding the length of time they are staying on hold on the phone for the rapid testing at our clinics. What is the reason for this delay? Are your sites overwhelmed? Watch Video
  • Question #4: Has the State started counting the antigen tests yet? Watch Video
  • Question #5: Are we doing both the nasal swab and nasopharyngeal tests?
  • Question #6: Is KD doing C-19 testing for symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals? We have had community members reach out to us and say they are being turned away and sent to the county health department.
  • Question #7: How close are we to receiving a vaccine? Does KD have a plan for when we receive it and how it will be distributed? Watch Video
  • Question #8: Visitor’s Policy. Watch Video

Community Engagement Virtual Meeting - Thursday, November 12

Question #1: Current Numbers for the County.

Question #2: Is there information regarding the length of hospital stay for Covid-19 patients currently compared to earlier months?

Question #3: A few people have reached out regarding the length of time they are staying on hold on the phone for the rapid testing at our clinics. What is the reason for this delay? Are your sites overwhelmed?

Question #4: Has the State started counting the antigen tests yet?

Question #7: How close are we to receiving a vaccine? Does KD have a plan for when we receive it and how it will be distributed?

Question #8: Visitor’s Policy

CURRENT NUMBERS FOR COUNTY

  1. Positive cases in County – 18,741

  • Positive cases in hospital – 27 (2 in ICU and 4 on ventilators)
  • Deaths in County - 299
  • Positive Employees – 412 (13 are currently on quarantine)
  • Hospital Census – 94% occupancy
  • Positivity Rate – 9.5% (14 day positivity rate)
  • Healthy Equity Rate – 5.6%
  • Positive per 100K - 10
  1. Is there information regarding the length of hospital stay for Covid-19 patients currently compared to earlier months.
  • We do not have the report for this, but, I feel it is safe to say it is going down because our staff is getting better at treating the virus.
  1. A few people have reached out regarding the length of time they are staying on hold on the phone for the rapid testing at our clinics. What is the reason for this delay? Are your sites overwhelmed?
  • We are having extreme phone waits due to unanticipated staffing needs from the increased demand. Yesterday we did 600 tests at our KD sites. We have the urgent cares that will be live with testing by Monday and that should offset the volume demands at the rural health clinics. We are also adding four new staff members in the coming weeks.Now that we have robust testing supplies, we are no longer sending specimens to the county which allows us to turn results around very quickly.
  • We ask for the community’s patience as we try to keep up with the increased surge in the community.
  1. Has the State started counting the antigen tests yet?
  • No, the State is still not counting the antigen testing numbers. Randy Kokka, our Director of Pharmacy is in contact with Dr. Nokamora at the State and they are still trying to decide how to handle the antigen results. We are reporting them they are just not counting toward a re-opening metric.
  1. Are we doing both the nasal swab and nasopharyngeal tests?
  • We are doing the nasal swab at the rural health clinics and Visalia Medical Clinic. We are performing the nasopharyngeal tests on our inpatients and surgical patients.
  1. Is KD doing C-19 testing for symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals? We have had community members reach out to us and say they are being turned away and sent to the county health department.
  • Yes, we are doing testing for anyone who wants a test at our rural health clinics and Visalia Medical Clinic. For a test at the rural clinics, patients need to call (559)624-4110 and schedule an appointment. For a test at Visalia Medical Clinic they need to call (559)738-7500. They do not have to be a patient of Visalia Medical Clinic to go there. They can show proof of insurance or use the cash pay option. (VMC does not accept MediCal)
  1. How close are we to receiving a vaccine? Does KD have a plan for when we receive it and how it will be distributed?
  • We do not know when the vaccine will be ready, but there are several companies that have put all of their resources into creating one.The county is buying us a special freezer so that we are prepared to receive the vaccine when it is ready to go.Kaweah Health has a team of physicians and leaders who are developing the plans of how it will be stored and distributed.We will want to be one of the vaccination sites.
  1. Visitor’s Policy
  • This week we have modified the visitor policy and are allowing one unique visitor per patient per day. That visitor can leave the hospital and come back as long as it is in the same day. The Subacute unit on Court Street is allowing two visitors per patient for 30 minutes and the visits must be scheduled in advance. Days and appointment times vary for our Subacute and Transitional Care units. We are not allowing visitors to accompany our Emergency Department patients unless they are mentally disabled, a child, unable to communicate for themselves, or end of life. The Emergency Department Charge nurses have the discretion to make those exceptions.