43 staff members have so far been affected by an outbreak of the coronavirus at the Kaiser Permanente San Jose emergency department, possibly caused by an inflatable Christmas costume, all of which tested positive over the past week.
“A staff member briefly appeared in the emergency department on December 25, wearing an air-powered suit,” said Irene Chavez, senior vice president and area manager of Kaiser’s San Jose Medical Center, in a written response to Chronicle questions said. “Any exposure, if it had occurred, would have been completely innocent and quite accidental, as the individual had no COVID symptoms and was only trying to increase the spirits of those around them during a very stressful time.”
The department contains doctors, nurses, technicians and assistants, and those who are confirmed or suspected of having a coronavirus infection will follow the isolation protocols, she added.
The Emergency Department is engaged in deep cleaning while officials conduct contact detection, Chavez said.
“All of our health professionals will be offered weekly COVID-19 and rapid tests for anyone with symptoms or exposure to a person with COVID-19,” she said. “Masks are needed in all areas and we are further tuning our processes and common spaces, such as staff break rooms, to limit staff gatherings.”
Air-powered costumes will “naturally” no longer be allowed, she added.
“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,” she said.
Nearly 40,000 health workers from Kaiser in Northern California received coronavirus vaccinations to control the pandemic, Chavez said, although it is unclear if any of those affected by the outbreak were among them.
“The health and safety of our patients, staff and doctors is our top priority,” she said. “We are grateful to our employees, nurses and physicians for their commitment to providing excellent and compassionate care every day.”
The San Jose Medical Center – and the Emergency Department – remain open, with additional staff to deal with an increase in COVID cases in the ER and hospital, Chavez said.
The outbreak comes amid a large increase in cases in the country, with an intensive care unit falling to 5.1% on Saturday.
Hospitals have come under pressure as cases of coronavirus continue to increase in the state. In Santa Clara County, 682 patients were hospitalized as of January 1 – more than double the 293 reported a month earlier. Some ambulances in the province had to stay outside the emergency rooms for hours waiting for a bed to open.
Jill Tucker is a staff writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @jilltucker