VANCOUVER, Wash. An outbreak of COVID-19 has spread at PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center in Vancouver, WA.
According to a PeaceHealth release, in the past week, 30 patients tested positive for COVID-19 who were not initially admitted to the virus and tested negative when they entered the hospital.
Six employees related to the care of the COVID-19 patients tested positive and 86 employees were placed in self-quarantine to ensure the safety of all patients and workers at PeaceHealth.
“Clark County Public Health is working closely with PeaceHealth to ensure that everyone who may have been exposed is notified and that all cases are isolated,” said Dr. Alan Melnick, Clark County health officer and director of public health, said. “These steps help protect the health of patients and staff at PeaceHealth.”
PeaceHealth said its infection prevention specialists immediately began working to understand the cause of the exposure and to prevent further exposure.
“I have full confidence in our highly qualified healthcare professionals to handle this recent incident,” said Lawrence Neville, MD, chief medical officer. . “We have been treating COVID-19 patients for 11 months and nearly 600 have been discharged.”
Although PeaceHealth said it complies with the CDC and state guidelines, including employees wearing personal protective equipment, masks, taking the daily temperature of all employees, testing all admitted patients, restricting visitors and caring for COVID-19 patients in dedicated and isolated units, the virus continued to spread.
“Unfortunately, it is a reminder that COVID stays in our community and can spread very quickly. We all need to be vigilant about physical distance, wear masks and limit our gatherings, ”Neville said.