A local outpatient clinic owned and operated by Northern Regional Hospital is reopening Tuesday, nearly a week after an employee there tested positive for COVID-19. Three additional employees at the clinic were positive in follow-up testing, according to Northern Hospital officials.
The hospital, which owns a number of area clinics, is not saying which clinic was closed, citing the need to protect privacy of those working there.
Ashly Lancaster, director of marketing for the hospital, said all patients and employees who visited the clinic within 48 hours prior to the May 6 closing have been alerted of the potential exposure. In addition, all employees there have been tested, with only the three additional positive results.
In a statement released by the hospital Monday afternoon, all four of the employees are self-isolating at home and are “doing well.”
The facility was set to reopen Tuesday morning “following the completion of deep cleaning and sanitizing protocols,” the hospital said.
“With NRH having 1,000 employees, even with many restrictive measures in place, we anticipated that eventually some of our own might become infected,” said Chris A. Lumsden, president and CEO. “Fortunately, we had policies and protocols in place to quickly and aggressively respond to caring for our coworkers. Our goal continues to be to protect our employees and patients,” he said.
Monday’s revelation comes as Surry County’s number of positive cases climbed to 43. Surry’s steep increase in cases over the past two weeks — the number stood at 13 on April 29 when the commissioners asked Gov. Roy Cooper for an exemption from the statewide stay-at-home order — is part of a trend of climbing cases in this region.
While Stokes and Alleghany County have remained relatively low — at 11 and eight, respectively — Yadkin County has grown to 54 cases, Wilkes County has skyrocketed to 242 cases, while Forsyth County has grown to 379 cases, with five deaths in that county. Statewide, the total confirmed cases rose to 15,045, with 55o deaths, as of Monday morning’s daily reporting by the state Department of Health and Human Services.
Across the border in neighboring counties in Virginia, Carroll County stood at 34, the city of Galax had climbed to 55, while Grayson County was at 15 Monday morning and Patrick County stood at 4. Virginia has been harder hit than North Carolina, with 25,070 confirmed cases and 850 deaths.
Source: https://www.mtairynews.com