Riverside County confirms number of nursing home patients dispersed throughout county

Riverside County health officials have confirmed that a total of 82 patients were evacuated from Magnolia Rehabilitation and Nursing Center on April 7. Among them, 7 were taken to a Federal Medical Station at the Indio Fairgrounds. A total of 15 were transported to ManorCare Health Services, a skilled nursing care facility in Indio.

"The goal was to move the patients safely to a new location and we did that with all 82 patients," Riverside County Department of Public Health Public Information Officer, Jose Arballo said.

The county ordered an emergency evacuation on Wednesday after several medical staff employees failed to show up to work amid Coronavirus concerns. Within the past few weeks, several patients and employees had tested positive for the virus.

On Wednesday more than a dozen ambulances arrived on site to transport patients throughout the county.

"Some of the locations [where] they arrived weren’t able to accommodate them so they were moved to another location," Arballo said.

One patient died prior to transport, due to underlying health reasons.

"The patient was a negative COVID patient," Arballo said.

According to the county, 5 patients were also taken to Desert Regional Medical Center, 5 were taken to JFK Hospital, and another 5 were transported to Eisenhower Health.

Arballo said 35 staff members were on site at the Indio Fairgrounds, and were well-equipped to handle patients.

"They are ready to go, they have been trained in this situation to protect themselves for their own safety and the safety of other patients," Arballo said.

On March 25, The National Guard arrived in Indio to set up the so-called mobile hospital. It was equipped with 125 beds.

"We had two separate facilities within the building that would house COVID and non-COVID patients," Arballo said.