More than 100 Prisma Health employees in SC have tested positive for coronavirus
More than 100 Prisma Health employees have contracted the coronavirus, the CEO of the state’s largest hospital system told legislators and other elected officials Wednesday.
Prisma Health has 118 staff members across its system’s 30,000 employees who have tested positive for the coronavirus, which causes COVID-19, a sometime severe respiratory disease.
More than half — or 54% — of Prisma employees who tested positive were exposed at work and 46% were exposed while out in the community, hospital officials said.
“We continue to have pretty good luck, relative to not seeing this disease impact our staff in a significant way,” Prisma president and CEO Mark O’Halla said during the call with the elected officials.
O’Halla didn’t specify the roles the employees have in the hospital system, or the current condition of employees who tested positive.
Prisma in a statement said it is following guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on the use of personal protective equipment, as well as protocols to follow when someone has been exposed.
“We take very seriously the responsibility to keep each team member and patient healthy and safe every day, including during this public health crisis,” Prisma spokeswoman Tammie Epps said in a statement. “When exposure occurs, Prisma Health will follow the guidance of the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about testing, isolation and notice to others who may have been exposed.”
Usually when a person is suspected of having the virus, they are advised to self-quarantine for 14 days.
In South Carolina, there have been 3,656 people who have tested positive for COVID-19 as of Wednesday, according to DHEC.
Previously, numbers of hospital workers who had tested positive for COVID-19 have been released by hospital systems themselves.
DHEC has recently started collecting data on healthcare workers who have been infected with COVID-19. As of April 3, there were 140 healthcare workers known to have tested positive for COVID-19, DHEC reported.
O’Halla told the legislators that there are no shortages of personal protective equipment in the system, as working with alternative supply chains has gone well.
“Everyone has what they need and we’re continuing our practice that we established a little over a week ago, relative to masking every single patient, visitor and employee that comes into our facilities,” O’Halla said.
O’Halla also sought to point out trends that may be good signs in the coming weeks such as the number of patients in the system’s hospitals positive for the virus.
O’Halla also told legislators that its number of patients in the Upstate has remained flat, but the numbers in the hospital system’s Midlands facilities have continued to grow during the last week, even though they were flat earlier in the month.
“I do not believe those numbers at this moment in time are projecting a surge of any nature,” O’Halla said. “We are continuing to run a pretty standard number of positive patients.”
Systemwide, Prisma has averaged 84 positive COVID-19 patients per day in the hospitals during the last week to 10 days.
He added the number of new positives and patients under investigation has been consistent and on a “slow declining trajectory.”
Prisma started in house testing last week, allowing tests to be completed within hours, while eliminating a previous backlog, O’Halla said.
“This has allowed us to dramatically reduced the number of patients under investigation and, in turn, allowed us to reduced our utilization of PPE (Personal Protective Equipment),” he said.
This story was originally published April 15, 2020 at 4:55 PM.
