The number of staff members infected during a deadly coronavirus outbreak in the Kaiser San Jose emergency rose from 44 to 60, hospital officials said Tuesday as Kaiser and Santa Clara County investigate whether an inflatable costume an employee is wearing at Christmas has, possibly caused the virus to spread widely.
Provincial officials have confirmed that they are also looking into whether the new, highly contagious coronavirus strain discovered in Southern California last week may have played a role. The strain, known as B117, was first identified in the UK and can be up to 70% more transmissible than other strains, although it does not become more lethal.
At least one person infected in the Kaiser San Jose outbreak has died, the hospital system confirmed Sunday.
Kaiser doctors contacted all 70 patients who had been treated and discharged from the emergency department on December 25, officials said in a statement. The hospital also makes coronavirus tests available to the patients.
Referring to privacy laws, Kaiser officials declined to say whether patients were infected.
Air-powered costumes such as those worn by the Kaiser employee are inflated by small air pumps to blow the costume around the wearer’s body. Kaiser has banned the costumes ever since.
Public health experts called it plausible that the pumps pushed contaminated air and droplets through openings in the costume. If so, the fact that you are indoors may be contributing to the spread of the infection.
“This is a serious reminder that COVID-19 can be so easily transmitted through the air and that even the vigilance of your guard can have immediate consequences,” the Santa Clara County Department of Public Health said in a statement Tuesday. said.
Nanette Asimov is a staff writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @NanetteAsimov