Yale New Haven plans massive testing
NEW HAVEN — Yale New Haven Health CEO Marna Borgstrom said the organization will be able to test 20,000 people a day for COVID-19 by the end of August, contributing to the state’s goal of 45,000 daily through multiple contracts with medical institutions.
Borgstrom, in Yale New Haven Hospital’s weekly press conference Wednesday, said by the end of May it would be testing 5,000 people a day, doubling that to 10,000 by the end of June and sometime in August the goal is 20,000 a day.
Part of that is testing in nursing homes starting next week, where the hospital will work in conjunction with the local community health centers, which have already set up testing sites and are going into nursing homes already.
Borgstrom said they are also working with the cities of New Haven and Bridgeport to make use of “community resources,” such as closed schools for testing sites to be closer to where people live. Vincent Petrini, senior vice president for communication, said they also proposed use of medical vans to help test at group homes.
Borgstrom, asked what she thought about the governor’s plan to reopen the state economy, said she was “very impressed with the thoughtfulness that has gone into this.”
“I don’t think there is a perfect answer that anybody has come up with to reopening, but I do think that this is a thoughtful informed approach that is being taken,” she said.
Borgstrom said they are having a lot of conversations with the state on linking the tests to contract tracing to get exposed people into isolation until it is certain that they are not infected with the coronavirus.
Borgstrom said they anticipate having a certain number of COVID-19 patients into the future, although she hoped it is less than the current 472 patients. Assuming there is no vaccine in the next 9 to 12 months, she said all the models predict an increase in cases later in the year.
“Our reopening plans contemplate that we have some elasticity to be able to manage that,” Borgstom said.
Dr. Thomas Balcezak, chief clinical office at Yale, commenting on Pediatric Inflammatory Multi-System Syndrome, said the rare disease in children is believed to be associated with exposure to the coronavirus with the body’s immune system driving most of the problems.
He said they have confirmatory tests for 4 of the 5 children admitted to Yale New Haven Hospital with the syndrome as having had or continuing to have COVID-19. They believe the 5th children also does, but so far that patient has tested negative.
Balcezak said none of them had underlying medical issues. He said 3 of the 5 came from other Fairfield County hospitals, an area that is densely populated with patients with the coronavirus.
Four of the five are “doing quite well,” Balcezk said. The fifth child is in the intensive care unit, but stable. They are being treated with anti-inflammatory measures, such as steroids and gamma globulin, he said.
Hospital spokesman Mark D’Antonio said one of the children has been discharged.
Borgstrom said the hospital is continuing to see a decline in COVID-19 related hospitalizations, which is good news, with 472 patients currently at its five hospitals. She said it was just over 600 a week ago and at the peak, it exceeded 800 cases.