Rosario: a hospital gurney who was not in contact with infected patients tested positive for coronavirus

The Santa Fe health authorities confirmed that one of the eight infected with coronavirus in the city of Rosario he is a stretcher-bearer of the Centennial Hospital. The 52-year-old man was never in contact with patients infected with the virus, but he did share space with doctors who treated them.

As reported by the Ministry of Health of Santa Fe in an official statement, the stretcher-bearer had been on vacation between March 5 and 19. In that interim, he was in contact with Paraguayan citizens.

On March 20, The 52-year-old man returned to work at the hospital and within a few hours of his workday began to develop feverish symptoms consistent with the spread of the Covid-19 virus.

In a matter of minutes, the stretcher bearer underwent a swab and went home to begin the quarantine process. Also, the confirmation of his positive occurred during the first hours of Monday.

“He was not stretched out in any room or had contact with patients,” said the director of the Centennial Hospital, Claudia Perouch, in statements published by the newspaper The capital.

“Anyway, the man did not have to come to work if he felt bad. It was his irresponsibility, created a situation that should not have happened, “he added.

Following the confirmation of transmission of the stretcher bearer, the health center authorities ordered the appropriate disinfection in all areas of the hospital.

As a preventive measure, the Centennial hospital decided to close the guard for a few hours and clear patients to assess contacts.

In addition, security cameras had to be monitored on March 20 to analyze in which areas of the building the stretcher-bearer was and with which colleagues he came in contact during the few hours he was working.

“According to the schedule in which he was admitted to the guard and the control of security cameras, he stayed in the hospital for a short time”, Revealed the official statement of the provincial health portfolio.

Thus, the hospital management confirmed that the stretcher bearer was in contact with 18 health professionals, who had to undergo the mandatory quarantine process.

“You cannot send everyone home because in suspicious cases it would be impossible, we would be without employees,” said Perouch.

“The people with whom he had contact in the hospital they should remain isolated with preventive quarantine and under the control that epidemiology makes of these seclusions, “he added.

Among the professionals who had to be quarantined there are from doctors to cleaning staff and receptionists on duty.

“It should be noted that the Centenario hospital guard is already in normal operation and the situation has been controlled,” the Santa Fe Ministry of Health said in its statement.

Until Monday at 18, the province of Santa Fe registered 15 positive cases of coronavirus and 90 others under study. Of the confirmed number, 8 belong to the city of Rosario.