The outbreak of COVID-19 at a San Jose hospital in connection with an inflatable fir suit has now spread to at least 60 people.
Kaiser Permanente said she is investigating whether the outfit worn by an emergency service employee on Christmas Day could have caused the spread that killed her.
“This was not an activity sponsored or approved by Kaiser Permanente,” the spokesman said in a statement.
“Any exposure, if it had taken place, would have been completely innocent and quite accidental, because the individual had no Covid symptoms and only sought to lift the spirits of those around him during a very stressful time.”
Kaiser reported 44 potentially suit-related cases, but revised the figure late Tuesday. All 60 workers who tested positive were in the ER on Christmas Day, reports The Mercury News.
The hospital is now investigating whether the air-conditioned suit, which had large eyes, a smile and a bright red nose, could have ventilated the spread of the virus-laden drops.
DailyMail.com contacted the hospital to find out what happened to the suit since it was tied to the outbreak.
California is so overwhelmed by the coronavirus pandemic that the state has ordered room hospitals to accept patients from others who have outgrown intensive care beds.
The huge inflatable fir suit related to the spread of COVID-19 to at least 43 employees of the California hospital, killing one, was photographed on wards
A colleague at the hospital who was working on the morning of the incident told Mercury News that the woman wanted to offer a “innocent” festive relief to her colleagues and patients.
“She was just spreading joy,” said the nurse, who did not want to be named.
The nurse said that her colleague surprised everyone from the central nursing station of the emergency department, appearing dressed in a suit, between 9:00 and 10:00, December 25.
“You just see this Christmas tree coming down to you and it makes you smile. It was a short moment of ease and you return to work “, she remembered.
The nurse said that she was six feet from the woman in the suit according to the social distance guidelines and that she was wearing a mask and a face shield along with everyone else in the emergency room.
She recounted how the festive gesture was the “impulse of the moment” and insisted that previous reports of a party or gathering of people around the woman in the suit were incorrect.
‘[They] he painted us in a light of being irresponsible when we worked our asses to save lives. We don’t see our families. He described us as not caring about our community, ‘she said.
She added that all employees wear masks and “do not hug you” and that no one wore Santa hats in an emergency this year if they had prevented PPE.
But on December 27, two days after the brief merriment, the nurse said she began to show symptoms of COVID-19.
Many colleagues working on Christmas Day began to feel sick and have symptoms at the same time, she added.
The woman wearing the suit showed no symptoms on Christmas day, but later gave positive results.
A nurse jumped in defense of her colleague wearing a Christmas tree costume, now tied to a COVID-19 outbreak that killed and infected 44 at a California hospital (above)
Unidentified employees of the hospital wore the inflatable suit with air in news from the Kaiser Permanente Medical Center San Jose on Christmas day
NBC Bay Area news, which first reported the incident, said the deceased was a registration officer described by her co-workers as “an absolutely wonderful woman.”
They quoted an employee as saying that the outbreak could actually be caused by staff performing respiratory treatments in a room that was not designed for this purpose.
Coronavirus is spread mainly by respiratory droplets emitted when people breathe, talk, sing, cough or sneeze.
Although hospital staff began receiving Covid-19 vaccines, it takes about two weeks after the first dose for the body to have enough antibodies to fight the infection, and both vaccines authorized in the United States so far require a booster vaccine.
Kaiser Permante said staff who received the first dose less than 10 days ago would not be expected to have achieved immunity at the time of exposure.
The hospital provided staff with rapid tests, thoroughly cleaned the emergency room and adjusted its protocols, including closing large meetings in break rooms, he said.
The nurse added that she is trying to get her head around the idea that the suit could have caused the group of cases.
“It just doesn’t seem completely plausible that it was all because it was just a moment in time compared to what we do all the time,” said the nurse.
“How could this happen if at 9 in the morning people were infected at three in the afternoon?” Could this happen? Yes. But was it a tragic event or something? We just don’t know.
An image of a Kaiser Permanente staff member who was vaccinated on December 14 above. Many of those infected had already received the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine before the outbreak
Irene Chavez, senior vice president and area manager, Kaiser Permanente San Jose Medical Center said in a statement that it is “an extremely unusual situation involving a well-meaning staff member acting on their own without prior notice or approval.”
“Any exposure, if it occurred, would have been completely innocent and quite accidental, because the individual had no COVID symptoms and only sought to lift the spirits of those around him during a very stressful time,” she said.
“Obviously, we will no longer allow air suits in our facilities,” Chavez said.
“At the same time, we are taking steps to strengthen security measures among staff, including physical distance and lack of assembly in break rooms, lack of sharing food or drink and masks at all times,” the hospital said, according to ABC7.
Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, a professor of medicine and expert in infectious diseases at UCSF, said the suit “probably acts as an air motor in a huge way. It’s like a multidirectional and random fan.
The hospital is currently monitoring contacts to determine if other staff, patients or visitors could have been exposed to the virus.
It has also introduced weekly tests for its staff.
The hospital’s emergency department is still open and safe to receive patients and all areas of the department are thoroughly cleaned, while those infected enter isolation.
Nearly 40,000 health workers at Kaiser Permanente have already received COVID-19 vaccines and more are expected 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 intensive care. The county, which accounts for a quarter of California’s 40 million people, has more than 40 percent of the 27,000 coronavirus deaths.
