SAN ANTONIO — Local and state health authorities are looking into how two disabled men with the coronavirus ended up living in isolation in a Live Oak business park.
Live Oak city officials shut down the Toepperwein Road facility with a 5:00 p.m. deadline Monday, but the investigation into what happened continues.
Code Compliance officials in Live Oak said Council Oaks Community Options was cited for housing people without a proper Certificate of Occupancy. They said the building has a permit to operate as an educational facility and it is not equipped for residential living. They said the office does not have bathing or shower facilities, for example.
The Council Oaks company provides housing for adults with mental health or disability issues in residential homes all around Bexar County, but Live Oak officials said the zoning on Toepperwein allows for day use only.
Saturday night, an anonymous tipster told Live Oak Police that coronavirus-positive patients were brought from a Council Oaks home to the business park to live in isolation after their housemate died from the virus a few days before. The tipster asked police to make sure the men, who are disabled, were okay.
Police Chief Dan Pue said his officers were denied entry into the facility by workers, who pointed out the need for quarantine. The chief said medics from Schertz EMS with personal protective equipment were brought to the location, and they checked on the patients and decided the men were not in imminent danger, so the issue was turned over to Code Compliance.
In addition to the code issue, Chief Pue said the company failed to notify the county health authority that they had created a COVID-19 treatment facility. He said a master list of providers automatically warns first responders of the possible danger before they arrive on scene where they might face coronavirus contamination issues.
Further, city officials said the air handling system in the building was not set up with a negative pressure isolation room for the patients, meaning care givers in the building were exposed to unfiltered air shared with the patients.
It is not known, the chief said, if the care givers in the facility were wearing PPE, but a number of people were seen over the course of two days entering and leaving the building wearing masks.
In an effort to get a response to questions about how the men came to be in an unregistered facility not designed for residential living, KENS 5 left multiple phone messages on several phone numbers for Council Oaks Community Options and spoke with workers at two group homes operated by the company.
The company has failed to respond to the requests.
Meanwhile, the company was ordered by Live Oak officials to deep clean the building, and state health authorities are actively investigating the home where the men were originally living, which is located in northwest San Antonio on Almarion Way.
City of San Antonio Metropolitan Health District officials are aware of issues related to the home after one resident there died last week after a short stay at a local hospital.
A spokesman for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission provided the following statement about their role in the process:
Our top priority remains the health, safety and well-being of people residing in facilities we regulate. We are investigating all long-term care facilities in the state that report one or more positive case of COVID-19. We are also coordinating closely with local health authorities as we conduct our investigations and continuing to issue guidance to long-term care facilities throughout the state.
We are actively investigating the facility at Almarion Way, an Intermediate Care Facility, to assess its compliance with all relevant health and safety rules. Once our investigation work is complete, you can request a copy of the final report for the investigation; feel free to check back with me in the coming weeks to see if those documents are available to request.
Our guidance for long-term care facilities includes provider letters, webinars, alerts, and emergency rules:
• https://hhs.texas.gov/services/health/coronavirus-covid-19/coronavirus-covid-19-provider-information
Additional guidance for ICFs during COVID-19 is posted on our COVID-19 Provider Information page. We will continue to update this guidance as needed.
If someone believes that any licensed or certified provider is not compliant with state rules and statute, we urge them to file a complaint via telephone, writing or online via the TULIP Complaints Portal. We have information on how to make a complaint online.