The COVID-19 outbreak at a San Jose hospital related to an inflatable Christmas tree costume has now spread to at least 60 people.
Kaiser Permanente has said he is investigating whether the clothing worn by an emergency service employee on Christmas Day could have caused the spread that killed one.
“It was not an activity sponsored or approved by Kaiser Permanente,” the spokesman said in a statement.
“Any exposure, if it occurred, would have been completely innocent and quite accidental, as the individual had no covid symptoms and only intended to lift the spirits of those around him at a very stressful time.”
Kaiser had reported 44 potentially disguise-related cases, but revised the figure Tuesday at the end. The 60 workers who now tested positive were in the emergency room on Christmas Day, according to The Mercury News.
The hospital is checking to see if the airy suit, which had fat eyes, a smile and a bright red nose, could have ventilated the spread of virus-laden drops.
DailyMail.com has contacted the hospital to find out what has happened to the costume since it was linked to the outbreak.
California is so inundated by the coronavirus pandemic that the state has ordered hospitals with space to accept patients from other people who have arrived in intensive care beds.
The giant inflatable costume of a Christmas tree related to the spread of COVID-19 to at least 43 California hospital officials, killing one, has been represented in the neighborhoods
A hospital colleague who was working the morning of the incident told Mercury News that the woman had wanted to provide “innocent” festive relief to her co-workers and patients.
“She was just having fun,” the nurse who didn’t want to be named said at the exit.
The nurse said her partner had surprised everyone at the emergency station’s central nursing station by appearing dressed in disguise someday between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. Dec. 25.
“You just see this Christmas tree approaching you and making you smile. It was a brief moment of lightness and it’s back to work,” he recalled.
The nurse said she was six meters away from the woman dressed in accordance with social distancing guidelines and was wearing a mask and face shield next to the rest of the emergency department.
He explained how the festive gesture had been a “spur of the moment” and insisted that previous reports of a party or gathering of people around the dressed woman were incorrect.
‘[They] he painted us in the light of being irresponsible when we have been working our backs to save lives. We don’t see our families. He portrayed us as not caring about our community, ‘he said.
He added that all staff wear masks and “don’t hug” and that no one wore Santa hats to the emergency room in case they were interposed in the PPE.
But on Dec. 27, two days after the brief joy, the nurse said she began showing symptoms of COVID-19.
Many colleagues who worked on Christmas Day also began to feel unwell and present with symptoms at the same time, he added.
The woman wearing the costume showed no symptoms on Christmas Day, but later also tested positive.
A nurse has jumped to the defense of her partner wearing a Christmas Tree costume now related to a COVID-19 outbreak that killed one and infected 44 at a California hospital (above)
The unidentified hospital employee wore the new air-powered inflatable suit to the rooms of Kaiser Permanent San Jose Medical Center on Christmas Day
News in the NBC Bay Area, which first reported the incident, said the dead woman was a registry clerk described by her co-workers as an “absolutely wonderful woman.”
They cited an employee who said the outbreak could have been caused by staff performing respiratory treatments in a room not designed for the purpose.
Coronavirus is mainly transmitted through respiratory drops emitted when people breathe, speak, sing, cough or sneeze.
Although hospital employees have begun receiving their vaccines against Covid-19, it takes two weeks after the first dose in the body to have enough antibodies to fight the infection, and both vaccines authorized so far in the The United States requires a booster vaccine.
Kaiser Permante said therefore, staff who received their first dose less than ten days ago were not expected to have achieved immunity at the time of exposure.
The hospital offered employees quick tests, performed a thorough cleanup of the emergency room and adjusted its protocols, including the completion of large meetings in the rest rooms, he said.
The nurse added that she was struggling to turn around the idea that the costume could have caused the accumulation of cases.
“It doesn’t seem entirely likely that it was all of it because it was just a moment in time compared to what we deal with all the time,” the nurse said.
“How could it be that if this happened at nine in the morning that people were infected at three in the afternoon? Could this happen? Yes. But was it tragically accidental or something else? We just don’t know.
An image of a member of the Kaiser Permanente vaccinated on December 14 earlier. Many of those infected had already received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine before the outbreak
Irene Chávez, senior vice president and area manager at Kaiser Permanent Medical Center in San Jose, said in a statement that it was “a very unusual situation involving a well-meaning staff member acting on their own without notice or approval.” .
“Any exposure, if it occurred, would have been totally innocent and quite accidental, as the individual had no symptoms of COVID and only intended to lift the spirits of those around him at a very stressful time,” he said.
“Viously, obviously, we will no longer allow airborne costumes in our facilities,” Chávez said.
“At the same time, we are taking steps to strengthen safety precautions among staff, including physical distancing and meeting in rest rooms, without sharing food or drinks and masks at all times,” the hospital said, according to ABC7.
Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, a professor of medicine and an expert in infectious diseases at UCSF, said the suit is likely to “act as an air motor in a huge way. It’s like a fan that’s a bit multidirectional and random “.
The hospital is currently monitoring contacts to determine if other staff, patients or visitors may have been exposed to the virus.
He has also introduced weekly tests for his staff.
The hospital’s emergency department remains open and safe to receive patients and all areas of the department are conducting a thorough clean-up while those infected remain isolated.
Nearly 40,000 health workers at Kaiser Permanent have already received COVID-19 vaccines and it is expected that there will be more soon.
Los Angeles continues to see hospitalizations increase day by day, setting a new record on Tuesday with nearly 8,000 hospitalized and more than a fifth of those in the ICU. The county, which accounts for a quarter of California’s 40 million residents, has more than 40 percent of the state’s 27,000 coronavirus deaths.
