• VA Pittsburgh: Employee, veteran test positive
WASHINGTON — The VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System has reported its first positive cases of COVID-19, according to VA officials and data updated Saturday by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
A VA Pittsburgh spokesperson confirmed that a veteran tested positive at the University Drive campus in Oakland on March 26, and that a community living center employee at the H.J. Heinz III campus tested positive on March 27.
“In accordance with [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] guidelines and the employee’s status, the individual is currently in home isolation, mitigating further risk of transmission to other patients and staff,” Pittsburgh VA spokesperson Shelley Nulph wrote in an email on Saturday.
“The veteran is being cared for in respiratory isolation by staff who are specially trained on … CDC treatment guidelines, including the use of personal protective equipment and infection control techniques,” she wrote.
No more information would be released due to privacy concerns, Ms. Nulph said.
Nationwide, 88 VA health networks have reported a total of 778 positive cases of the virus in patients, according to the online data. Patient deaths rose to 16, up from nine reported deaths on Friday.
Employees at VA Pittsburgh’s H.J. Heinz Campus in O’Hara learned one employee had tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday afternoon, according to a union official who requested anonymity.
The employee left the facility and stayed home after they noticed symptoms, about 72 hours before the positive test, the official said.
The community living center is the VA’s nursing home that houses a largely elderly population, said Dean Balouris, a union official at the H.J. Heinz Campus.
The affected employee is in the nursing administration and meets with other managers regularly, he said.
Mr. Balouris was concerned that the employee could have infected other managers and workers in the community living center before receiving the positive test.
The nationally collected database online does not list how many cases have been reported in VA employees. The database described the VA Pittsburgh case as “inpatient.”
New Orleans has reported the most cases of any city, with 175 positive tests among its patients.