SAN JOSE – The Christmas Day coronavirus outbreak at Kaiser Permanent San Jose continued to spread Tuesday, and hospital workers aren’t the only ones getting sick.
For the first time, 15 patients were added to the growing list of infected people on Tuesday after an employee crossing the emergency room in an inflatable suit from an inflatable tree on Dec. 25 could have been a super diffuser, he said. announce the Santa Clara County Department of Public Health.
The COVID-19 positive case count also rose Tuesday among Kaiser employees to 77, up from 60 last week, the county said. A worker, a receptionist, died a week or so after Christmas, though Kaiser has not said exactly when.
When it came to the new numbers released Tuesday, Kaiser Permanente would only say that “we are trying to validate the numbers provided by the county.”
The news comes after the county fined Kaiser last week $ 43,000 for failing to immediately notify officials of the original 43 cases it made public more than a week later, imposing a $ 1,000 fine on each case.
Several agencies are investigating the outbreak, including the state Department of Public Health and Cal / OSHA and Santa Clara County. In a press release in early January, Kaiser suggested that a well-meaning employee who spread the joy of the holidays could have been the source. The dressed woman showed no symptoms at the time, but tested positive shortly thereafter.
Coronavirus experts claim that it is possible that the person dressed was a super diffuser who did not know it; most people are infectious before showing symptoms and the inflatable suit fan could have easily ventilated and spread the virus.
But with hospital staff forced to wear masks and some workers who began their shifts later that day also became ill, many questions remain as to whether there could be another source of the outbreak.
A patient who spoke to this news organization said she was discharged from the emergency department on Dec. 24, the day before the disguised woman made her appearance. But she also tested positive for the virus and is convinced she became infected with Kaiser.