The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Hospital no longer announcing individual coronavirus cases
Spokeswoman: Privacy must be protected
MIDDLETOWN — Following the announcement last week that two individuals at Connecticut Valley Hospital had contracted coronavirus in as many days, the administration said it doesn’t expect to offer updates about individual positive Covid-19 tests any longer, citing privacy laws.
“We announced the initial cases, first in a staff person and then in a patient, to indicate that the virus was present in the facility,” public information officer Diana Shaw said about the state-run mental health and substance use disorder treatment facility in Middletown.
State and federal privacy laws prohibit the release of information about specific patients and their health conditions, she added.
“The administration expects to offer updates about COVID-19 cases in the aggregate. We may even provide periodic updates about the presence of COVID-19 in our facilities,” according to Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services spokeswoman Mary Kate Mason.
On Tuesday, CVH reported a worker was infected. The individual last reported to work March 10 and called out sick the next day with flu-like symptoms, a release said.
The individual, who had a fever and cough, was tested March 14, and the
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services was notified of the result March 23, Shaw added. Seven other staff who were in close contact with the individual were out of work on self-quarantine.
Two days later, the hospital alerted the public that a psychiatry patient was positive for the illness. The person was cared for in the general psychiatry division of the hospital, officials there announced.
“We continue to remain vigilant in maintaining an
environment that is healthy and safe. Hospital staff are dedicated to caring for the physical and mental health of our patients and to providing the highest quality of care through this public health crisis,” state DMHAS Commissioner Miriam Delphin-Rittmon said in a prepared statement.
The facility has a quarantine and
isolation plan staff follow with suspected or confirmed Covid-19 cases or exposure to infected people, according to Shaw. Patients who show symptoms of Covid-19 are isolated in designated spaces and tested, she said. Those believed to have been exposed to Covid-19, but are without symptoms, are being quarantined and monitored.
If a quarantined patient begins to show symptoms, they are moved to isolation and tested for the virus, she said.
Meanwhile, employees are being referred to their primary care providers for evaluation, potential testing and treatment, she said. “Staff who miss work due to symptoms or a diagnosis of Covid-19 must provide DMHAS Human Resources with a fitness for duty form completed by their medical provider prior to returning to work.”
For up-to-date information on coronavirus in Connecticut, visit portal.ct.gov/Coronavirus.