Complaint·June 8, 2022

The Director stated that she was informed by the Monterey Park regional office that she had to obtain a reference number from the health department before submitting the incident report. The Director stated she obtained the number from the health department on 04/20/2022. LPA Lee observed that the incident report was faxed by the facility on 04/22/2022. Although the facility did report the positive cases on 04/22/2022, the facility did not report the cases within the required time period. Since the positive cases were reported to the facility on 04/16/2022 which was on the weekend, the facility had 24 hours from the beginning of Monday 04/18/2022 to report the incident to the regional office. The facility did not meet this requirement which is a potential risk to children in care. Based on the information obtained during the investigation, the preponderance of evidence standard has been met, therefore the allegations that Covid cases not being reported has been Substantiated. California Code of Regulations,(Title 22, Division 12 & Chapter Number 6), is being cited on the attached LIC 9099D. The notice of site inspection must remain posted for a period of 30 days during hours of operation. Failure to maintain posting will result in a civil penalty of $100.00 dollars. Exit interview conducted with Director Melina Petrosyan . Appeal rights discussed and explained. The Director stated that the classroom was shut down to prevent further spread of covid and was not a requirement from health department. The complaint alleged that a total of 3 staff and 8 children tested positive, and all the parents were not informed of this covid outbreak. The facility denied this allegation and stated that the facility informs all parents of positive cases to minimize to risk of spread. Although the facility did have a outbreak of covid on 04/18/2022 per records, the existence of an outbreak does not necessarily prove that individuals contracted covid at the facility due to some form of negligence. During unannounced inspections conducted during the investigation, LPA Lee did not observe anything that would indicate an increased risk of spread of covid since the facility was following all the guidelines from the department of health to help mitigate the risk of spread. Based on the evidence collected during the investigation, the allegation that facility is not safe due too many children and staff testing positive for Covid may be valid. However, there is not enough preponderance of evidence to prove the alleged violation(s) did or did not occur, therefore at this time the above allegation is found to be unsubstantiated. The notice of site inspection must remain posted for a period of 30 days during hours of operation. Failure to maintain posting will result in a civil penalty of $100.00 dollars. Exit interview conducted with Director Melina Petrosyan . Appeal rights discussed and explained.