Twenty-eight people are now hospitalized at Sarasota Memorial Health Care System after testing positive for COVID-19, an increase of four patients since Sunday.
Six of the hospital’s employees have tested positive for the virus; one of them is now a patient at their own hospital.
The other five are being monitored at home.
The hospital has asked several other staff members to stay home and self-monitor for symptoms for 14 days.
“People who are quarantined because they were exposed to a COVID-19 patient are being paid administrative pay. They do not have to use their PTO,” Sarasota Memorial spokesperson Kim Savage told 10News in an email.
Two patients with COVID-19 have died at the hospital.
As of 4:30 p.m. on Monday, Sarasota Memorial has tested 533 people, with 42 positive results.
Only two of the hospital’s six infected employees were tested at the hospital; the other four were tested at an outside lab.
“We are simply exhausting all avenues to test staff who may have been exposed so they can safely return to work, but fall outside the state public health lab testing guidelines,” Savage told 10News in an email.
The 14 infected patients who were released from Sarasota Memorial after seeking treatment there are now being monitored by the Florida Department of Health, according to Savage.
Sarasota Memorial posted a photo on Facebook a few days ago saying it’s one of the first recipients of FDA-approved face shields manufactured and donated by Ford.
On Monday morning, Sarasota County Health Department Health Officer Chuck Henry said healthcare facilities there are in good shape when it comes to personal protective equipment, known as PPE, for doctors and nurses.
“Supplies continue to come in almost on a daily basis. Obviously, we don’t get 100 percent of everything we’re looking for. But the state has had some success in acquiring supplies and pushing those out to the county level based on priorities,” said Henry.
Savage said PPE is not recommended or necessary for doctors and nurses unless they’re caring for patients who are infected or suspected of being infected with COVID-19.
To care for those patients, Savage said doctors and nurses wear gloves, gowns, eye protection, and surgical masks or face shields.
Savage said everything except the plastic face shields are thrown out each time they leave the room.
The shields are disinfected and reused.
Savage said clinicians performing higher-risk care, like aerosol-generating interventions such as intubation, wear a higher level of protection -- primarily CAPRs with face shields or N95 respirator masks with eye protection.
She said the hospital sanitizes and reuses N95 masks up to three times with ElectroClave technology.
“We are not at a critical point where we endorse staff adapting their protective gear or wearing home-made gear,” Savage told 10News in an email. “The media can help by encouraging businesses that use masks, gowns, gloves and eye protection for non-emergency care to donate those materials to hospitals for frontline staff. While we are collecting home-made masks, those will be a used as a last resort. Depending on the materials used, how the masks fit, and if they can be properly disposed of or cleaned between patient encounters or other uses, home-made and ill-fitting masks can pose additional risks to our patients while giving healthcare workers a false sense of protection.”
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