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Brigham and Women's says 28 people have now tested positive in coronavirus outbreak on two floors
By adamg on Fri, 09/25/2020 - 9:58pm
Brigham and Women's reported this afternoon that 19 staffers and 9 patients have now tested positive for Covid-19 in a cluster related to two units, and that 600 additional people are now awaiting testing.
The hospital says all of the cases have been in people connected to its Braunwald Tower 16A and 14CD units.
This outbreak is not impacting any other areas of the hospital or our outpatient clinics.
The hospital said that its infection control team has been unable to determine if the outbreak began with a hospital staffer or patient. However, the hospital said the team found several areas of concern:
- Many patients were not masked during clinical care/interactions with staff
- Providers were inconsistent in their use of eye protection during patient encounters
- The first patient who tested positive had received an aerosol generating procedure prior to the positive test result
- A staff member with mild symptoms, consistent with historical seasonal allergies, did not appreciate those symptoms as potentially related to COVID-19 and continued to work
- Lack of physical distancing among staff while unmasked while eating
The hospital added that even though all patients are tested for Covid-19 on admission, it will re-test all current patients for the virus - and will offer voluntary testing to everybody who works at the hospital's main campus.
One of the affected units, 16A, has been shut for a deep cleaning and an inspection of its ventilation system. The other unit remains open, following a cleaning, because "our Infection Control team has documented a clear train of transmission and believes that it is safe to remain open." Patients in the unit who tested positive have been moved to a dedicated Covid-19 unit.
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Comments
This is why surveillance data and tracking are critical
They are literally all we have to fight the spread of this virus.
Being able to track and contain the mayhem to two specific areas is how we prevent exponential spread from flaring up.
Old fashioned methods to combat an ancient problem.
Can we talk about how most of
Can we talk about how most of the colleges will be testing their students at least weekly, but none of our major medical centers where the risk of exposure is exponentially higher have a policy to routinely test employees.
No one gets a test unless they report symptoms. It’s a complete joke. I think deep down they know if they routinely tested they wouldn’t have enough staff left to run the place.
Sure, we can talk about it
After you educate yourself about how the medical system is currently addressing the situation.
Because I can tell from what you posted that you really need to do that before there can be any meaningful discussion.
https://www.mass.gov/info-details/covid-19-hospital-capacity-and-surge-r...
https://www.mass.gov/info-details/covid-19-public-health-guidance-and-di...
Do you think...
Forbidding staff to eat anyplace other than the break room, which is of course crowded with other people who are maskless because they, too, are eating, constitutes addressing the situation and managing infection control in a thoughtful way? Especially because, at least on the patient floors, there are additional empty rooms available if the census is down?
Nebulizer
This is caused by the nebulizer treatment. That’s why they’re shutting down the floor and doing a deep cleaning.
16A
Pretty sure that’s their private section for fancy people.