More COVID-19 cases reported among workers at Tacoma hospital after widespread testing
An update from St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma shows COVID-19 cases among staff have continued to rise.
A total of 23 workers have tested positive in the rounds of testing conducted in recent weeks.
After an initial outbreak involving 11 employees and four patients in cases tied to the seventh floor, 12 more employees have tested positive in unrelated cases, which the hospital attributes to community spread.
“Contact tracing has found that these cases are not related to the initial outbreak through known exposure to positive staff or patients,” the hospital stated Tuesday.
According to Tuesday’s update: “In the initial response to the outbreak on the seventh floor, a total of 1,100 staff were tested, along with all of the patients on the seventh floor.
“No additional staff or patients have tested positive since the first round of testing related to this incident. On Nov. 9, the seventh floor reopened and all staff who have two negative test results were cleared to return to work.”
Surveillance testing was expanded last week after additional cases were reported with no apparent link to the seventh floor.
That testing included “providers, employees, and contracted staff who were present at St. Joseph Medical Center on or after Oct. 16, including all floors of the South Pavilion and the Tower, all hospital-based outpatient clinics, and Walters Same Day Surgery Center,” according to Tuesday’s update.
The hospital said as of Nov. 9, 3,000 tests have been completed in the surveillance testing.
“All patients and employees are currently being notified of the testing efforts, and test results will be communicated as quickly as possible,” the hospital said. “Notification for any positive results, if received, will be the highest priority.”
The surveillance testing allowed staff with no known exposure to continue working while awaiting results, a strategy that’s been criticized by unions representing workers at the site over concerns of asymptomatic spread.
The unions also have sought paid administrative leave for workers following a COVID test until receiving results and during any quarantine.
The hospital contends it is following established CDC and local health guidelines with its chosen testing strategy.
“We have investigated each positive patient and staff member to identify any staff who may have been exposed and must leave work per CDC guidelines,” the hospital has stated in updates.
The Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department has been working with the hospital since the initial outbreak was reported Oct. 20, and the health department urged the expanded testing.
“In conjunction with the Department of Health, we decided to recommend to St. Joe’s that they test the whole hospital, and they agreed to do it,” Dale Phelps, COVID-19 communications lead with the health department, told The News Tribune this week.
Community spread
The news of the additional cases at the Tacoma hospital came on the same day state and local health officials warned of rampant community spread statewide of COVID-19.
Pierce County’s health department director, Dr. Anthony Chen, said at a Tuesday news conference broadcast statewide that Pierce County had seen disease rates rise dramatically since June, noting new daily cases exceeded 100 the majority of the past 14 days, including a record of more than 200 on Saturday.
“That is 15 times higher than we saw in June,” he noted. “Our 14-day total case rate was 16 per hundred thousand in June and was in the 50s in September, and today we’re reporting 198 (per) 100,000. So that’s 12 times what it was in June, and four times what it was in September.”
He noted that as more cases were reported and illness spreads, the strain on hospitals would be more evident not just with supply of beds but with amount of staff available.
“My medical colleagues in the clinics and hospitals, they’re on the front lines. They risk infection daily and they’re facing burnout,” he said.
This story was originally published November 11, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
