2 health care workers diagnosed with coronavirus had treated Solano County woman with illness
Alameda and Solano counties jointly announced Sunday that each has a presumptive positive case of new coronavirus in health care workers who had treated a patient in Solano County before she was diagnosed with the disease.
“Due to the aggressive measures that public health and hospital staff undertook, all potential exposures to the case were promptly identified and isolated so that patients are not placed at higher risk,” said Dr. Bela Matyas, Solano County’s health officer. “Health care officials have immediately updated protocols and procedures to ensure patient safety is prioritized.”
The two workers’ tests, performed by a State of California lab, will be sent to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for confirmation. The county’s public health officials say they are taking aggressive measures to swiftly identify and isolate all individuals exposed to the new cases. Public health officials have said more cases are expected in the Bay Area, the Sacramento region and nationwide.
The Solano County woman, who is being treated at UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, arrived at the hospital Feb. 19 on a ventilator. Although UCD doctors requested a test for coronavirus the same day, UCD Health leaders said, public health officials did not take samples until four days later. This coronavirus case was the first one where public health officials did not know how the individual was exposed to the new coronavirus.
Union officials have said that 124 workers who treated the woman at UCD Medical Center have been placed in isolation. Over at a Solano County hospital, 93 other health care workers also have been put into quarantine or isolation for 14 days. Eleven of them had cold symptoms, officials said, so they requested tests for them, and these two tests are the first results.
The two health care workers who tested positive for the respiratory illness worked at NorthBay VacaValley Hospital. The president of NorthBay Health Group, Aimee Brewer, said the health and safety of patients, staff, physicians and community is the hospital’s top priority.
“Our two health care workers who tested positive have been in isolation at home since the day we learned they had contact with the patient who had contracted the virus,” Brewer said. “We took immediate and comprehensive measures intended to stop any further spread of the virus, including working with public health officials to trace the contacts the two workers may have had. We remain in close contact with national, state and local public health authorities to ensure we are following the most up-to-date protocols and procedures for dealing with this evolving situation.”
Separately on Sunday, Santa Clara County reported three new cases of the illness, according to a report from Channel 4 KRON-TV. That county has now had seven cases. The fifth case is a woman in her 50s who has chronic conditions. Cases 6 and 7 are a married couple who had recently traveled to Egypt. All three are being treated in hospitals.
So far, at least 76 people nationwide have tested positive for new coronavirus, according to a map created by Johns Hopkins University that is tracking cases worldwide. Globally, more than 88,000 cases have been confirmed and more than 2,900 people have lost their lives to the disease.
To protect yourself from getting the new coronavirus or passing it to others, public health officials advise doing the following:
- Avoid close contact with people who are sick.
- Practice social distancing, putting some space between yourself and others., to avoid being hit by droplets carrying the pathogen.
- If you touch your eyes, nose, or mouth, wash your hands.
- Stay home when you are sick.
- Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue, and then throw the tissue in the trash.
- Disinfect objects and surfaces that you frequently touch, using a regular household cleaning spray or wipe.
Public health officials have said that 80 percent of people who get COVID-19 will experience no symptoms or only mild symptoms. Officials stressed that healthy individuals should not be excluded from any activities based on their race or country of origin.
“We understand that the evolving news about COVID-19 is concerning, and we are taking the situation very seriously,” said Dr. Erica Pan, the health officer in Alameda County. “This news is not unexpected in the Bay Area, and we are ready for cases here. This is not the time to panic; now is the time for all of us to work together.”
This story was originally published March 1, 2020 at 4:01 PM with the headline "2 health care workers diagnosed with coronavirus had treated Solano County woman with illness."
