Inflatable Christmas costume worn by hospital employees blamed for contaminating 43 emergency department staff with COVID-19 in California hospital
- 43 staff members at the Kaiser Permanent San Jose Medical Center’s emergency department tested positive for COVID-19 between 27 December and 1 January
- Officials are investigating whether an air suit worn by one employee on Christmas Day may be related to the outbreak
- “Any exposure, if it had occurred, would have been completely innocent and accidental, as the individual has no COVID symptoms,” hospital officials said.
- The emergency services staff were the first to receive the COVID-19 vaccine less than ten days ago, but would not have reached immunity without the second shot.
- All the infected people are now being isolated and the hospital is deeply clean
At least 43 staff members at a hospital in California were infected with COVID-19 in the past week and officials are investigating whether an inflatable Christmas costume worn by an employee for the holidays could have caused the outbreak.
The staff at the Kaiser Permanent San Jose Medical Center’s Emergency Department tested positive between December 27 and January 1.
Officials said a staff member briefly appeared in the emergency department on Christmas Day with an inflatable costume on the air.
However, who wore the costume is not known.
“A staff member briefly appeared in the emergency department on December 25 wearing a costume,” Irene Chavez, senior vice president and area manager of Kaiser’s San Jose Medical Center, told the San Francisco Chronicle.
At least 43 staff members at the Kaiser Permanente San Jose Medical Center’s emergency department tested positive for COVID-19 last week and officials say an inflatable costume worn by staff on Christmas Day could be blamed
“Any exposure, if it had taken place, would have been completely innocent and accidental, as the individual had no COVID symptoms and was only trying to lift the minds of those around them during a very stressful time,” she said. said.
Emergency services personnel were the first to receive the COVID-19 vaccine less than 10 days ago, but the hospital said it was not expected there would be any immunity when this exposure occurred. It is not only important for everyone to be vaccinated, but to get the required two doses of vaccine that need to be protected. ‘
Health officials say people need to get the two doses of the vaccine to be protected.
The hospital is now investigating the outbreak.
The hospital’s emergency department is still open and safe to receive patients, and all areas of the department are being thoroughly cleaned as all the infected people go into isolation.
The emergency services staff were the first to receive the COVID-19 vaccine less than ten days ago, but the hospital said that ‘they would not be expected to achieve immunity when this exposure occurred’. A View of a Kaiser Permanent Staff Vaccinated on December 14th Above
The outbreak comes as cases in the epicenter in California increase with an intensive care unit that will drop to 5.1 percent in the Bay Area on Saturday. A view of a nurse in PBT at the ICU in the Providence Cedars-Sinai Tarzana Medical Center in Tarzana on December 18 above
In all, California has recorded more than 2.3 million COVID-19 cases and more than 26,000 virus-related deaths since the start of the pandemic. A view of nurses treating a COVID-19 patient at the Providence Cedars-Sinai Tarzana Medical Center in Tarzana, California on December 18
“It’s clear we are no longer allowing air-powered costumes at our facilities,” Chavez said.
“At the same time, we are taking steps to strengthen safety measures among staff, including physical distance and no gathering during breaks, no sharing of food or drink and masks,” the hospital said according to ABC7.
DailyMail.com contacted for further details.
Nearly 40,000 health workers at Kaiser Permanente have already received COVID-19 vaccines and more are expected soon.
The outbreak comes as cases in the epicenter in California increase with an intensive care unit that will drop to 5.1 percent in the Bay Area on Saturday.
In all, California has recorded more than 2.3 million COVID-19 cases and more than 26,000 virus-related deaths since the start of the pandemic. Nationwide, more than 20 million cases have been reported and more than 350,000 deaths.