Fifteen Kaiser San Jose patients test positive for COVID-19 virus

SAN JOSE >> The Christmas Day coronavirus outbreak at Kaiser Permanente San Jose continued to spread Jan. 12 — and hospital workers aren’t the only ones getting sick.

For the first time, 15 patients on Jan. 12 were added to the growing list of people infected after an employee traipsing through the emergency department in an inflatable tree costume Dec. 25 may have been a superspreader, the Santa Clara County Public Health Department announced.

The tally of positive COVID-19 cases also spiked among Kaiser employees to 77 on Jan. 12, up from 60 last week, the county said. Kaiser said Jan. 13, however, that just 74 of those are connected to the Dec. 25 outbreak.

One worker, a receptionist, died a week or so after Christmas, although Kaiser hasn’t said exactly when.

The news comes after the county fined Kaiser $43,000 last week for failing to immediately notify officials of the original 43 cases it made public more than a week later — levying a $1,000 penalty for each case.

Several agencies are investigating the outbreak, including the state Department of Public Health and CAL/OSHA and Santa Clara County. In a news release in early January, Kaiser suggested that a well-intentioned employee spreading holiday cheer may have been the source. The woman in the costume was showing no symptoms at the time but tested positive shortly after.

Coronavirus experts say it’s possible that the person in the costume could have been an unknowing superspreader — most people are at their most infectious before they show symptoms, and the fan in the costume easily could have vented and spread the virus.

But with the hospital staff required to wear masks and some workers who began their shifts later that day also getting sick, many questions remain about whether there could have been another source of the outbreak.

One patient who spoke with this news organization said she was discharged from the ER on Dec. 24, the day before the costumed woman made her appearance. But she also tested positive for the virus and is convinced she became infected at Kaiser.

Contact Julia Prodis Sulek at 408-278-3409.