SAN JOSE, California (AP) – State officials and local officials have fined two hospitals in the Kaiser Permanente Bay Area more than $ 184,000 in recent months for failing to report when employees were infected with COVID-19, officials said.
Cal / OSHA, the state agency that oversees workplace safety, fined the health giant San Jose plant more than $ 85,000 in November after it fell silent when one of its employees was caught early in the pandemic, the Mercury. , was admitted to hospital with COVID-19 for a week. News reported.
Santa Clara County officials fined the same hospital $ 43,000 this month for failing to report a deadly coronavirus outbreak, possibly caused by an inflatable holiday costume worn by an unconsciously infected staff on Christmas day. is. The number of cases related to the outbreak reached 60 employees and one staff member was killed.
Santa Clara County officials said they heard of the Christmas outbreak in January after the Oakland hospital chain issued a press release. They issued $ 1,000 fines for each of the initial 43 cases. Kaiser is responsible for the timely reporting of cases, the country said.
Cal / OSHA also fined Kaiser’s hospital in Antioch $ 56,000 in December after the hospital did not immediately report that two employees were hospitalized with coronavirus in May and July, including violations of a safe work environment. of maintaining the pandemic.
The hospital network said in a statement on Monday that the state’s $ 85,000 fine against San Jose Hospital stemmed from claims made last spring when the virus was new and the regulations were constantly evolving. It said it was appealing the fine.
“It’s important that they have absolutely nothing to do with what happened on December 25 in Kaiser Permanente San Jose,” Kaiser said.
Cal / OSHA said on Monday it was also investigating “subsequent illnesses and complaints” at Kaiser’s San Jose hospital.