Patient dies after exposure to COVID-19 at Auburn hospital

AUBURN, Wash. – Eight patients and five workers at MultiCare Auburn Medical Center have tested positive for COVID-19 after being exposed to a patient who tested positive at the facility. One of the exposed patients died.

According to a statement from MultiCare, a patient on the fourth floor of Auburn Medical Center tested positive for COVID-19 last week. The hospital tested 40 patients who were on the unit and eight of them tested positive.

Patients suspected and confirmed of COVID-19 have been transferred to a separate unit. MultiCare said one of the exposed patients died on Tuesday.

“We will continue to monitor patients on the unit who tested negative and who temporarily interrupted discharges from this unit last week to ensure that we detect and isolate any further positive cases,” MultiCare wrote in a statement to Q13 News. “MultiCare also temporarily restricted new admissions to the unit. Appropriate environmental cleaning was performed on the affected unit.”

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MultiCare said more than 200 staff had been on the unit in the two weeks before the first patient tested positive. Five employees have tested positive and are isolating themselves at home.

“We have also identified 212 staff members who were on the unit in the 14 days prior to the first screening of the positive patient and are testing them all.” As of Tuesday morning, we have the results of 156 employee tests, five of which employees return a positive result. All employees who have tested positive are all recovering at home until they can safely return to work. “

If you have been affected, please send an email to Simone Del Rosario at [email protected]

Officials warn of accelerating COVID-19 ahead of vacation

Health officials in Washington are warning of a continuing increase in coronavirus cases statewide and urging the public to take the pandemic more seriously. If the trajectory of cases does not decrease, they warn, further restrictions could result.

“Now that people are moving more indoors, I shudder to think of what it’s going to be the week or two after Thanksgiving in emergency care,” said MC Nachtigal, an emergency care nurse practitioner. “This year, I am terrified to think of all those entire families devastated by COVID.”

Public health official Kathy Lofy said cases have been increasing steadily since September, but the most dramatic increases have been in the past two weeks and cases are increasing in all age groups, this which indicates that the transmission is generalized.

The state set a daily record for new coronavirus cases on Saturday, with 1,777 new cases reported. As of Tuesday, more than 120,000 cases were confirmed statewide and there were 2,482 deaths.