Kaiser Hospital officials announced Saturday that 43 emergency personnel at Kaiser Permanente in San Jose tested positive for COVID-19 between Dec. 27 and Jan. 1.
The hospital is investigating whether an incident in which a staff member briefly appeared in the emergency department on Christmas day, with an air-powered costume along with a fan, caused air droplets to disperse into the hospital.
“Using our infected protocols, we investigate the outbreak and use contact tracing to personally notify and test staff or patients exposed during this period based on CDC and public health guidelines,” a spokesman in said a statement.
The hospital says it no longer allows air-conditioned costumes at any facilities.
Kaiser said the employee who was wearing the costume had no symptoms at the time, and only tried during a strain. But one ER employee who asked not to be identified said there could be another reason for the outbreak.
“They were doing breathing treatments in a room they were not supposed to,” the employee said.
The hospital said the emergency department was being thoroughly cleaned, and officials said the hospital was open and safe for patients to receive care.
But the employee said Kaiser’s claim that they were cleaning the department thoroughly after the outbreak was untrue.
“It’s a lie,” the employee said. ‘All they did was come in and deep clean the small fitting room. They did not do the other parts of the emergency department and there was no deep cleaning. ”
The hospital is working to quickly test all employees and doctors of the emergency department for the virus. Anyone who is positive or has symptoms will qualify according to the Centers for Disease Control guidelines.
‘Although the vaccine is being launched in our communities, COVID-19 is still sensitive in the community, and it is critical that everyone uses the methods to protect ourselves and others – especially masks, hand washing, avoiding gatherings and social distancing, Reads the statement.
Kaiser said some of the infected health workers received their first dose of COVID vaccine, but would not be expected to achieve immunity once the exposure occurred.
However, several health professionals told NBC Bay Area that they did not feel the hospital was doing enough to protect them.