Trinity Health-owned St. Mary Medical Center in Langhorne, Pa., is taking precautions against a potential community COVID-19 outbreak after two nurses who participated in a strike earlier this month tested positive for the coronavirus.
The hospital said employees get enhanced daily screening when they arrive at work and are receiving extra personal protective equipment to help prevent COVID-19 spread. Testing will be based on existing assessment and screening procedures by staff, in close consultation with county public health officials, the hospital said.
The precautions come as hundreds of nurses represented by the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals, went on a 48-hour strike beginning Nov. 17. The strike ended at 7 a.m. Nov. 19, but nurses did not return to work until Nov. 22 due to a contract between St. Mary and temporary replacement nurses.
The union said the hospital identified two striking workers who had been on the picket line who tested positive for COVID-19 due to exposures in their personal lives.
Lawrence Brilliant, MD, the hospital's president, said there had been reports of "known COVID-19 exposures, symptoms, and positive tests among those engaging in strike and picket activities led by PASNAP," according to LevittownNow.com.
"Despite having received notice of known exposures, symptoms and positive tests on the picket line, the union chose to continue to picket in large numbers without, in our opinion, following the required CDC and health department COVID-related safety protocols," he said.
The union said the hospital president's comments were to divert "scrutiny away from the fact they brought in 178 agency nurses from around the country."
The union also accused the hospital of not answering questions about whether the replacement staff was properly quarantined from out-of-state travel or properly tested for the virus.
The hospital, part of Livonia, Mich.-based Trinity Health's Mid-Atlantic division, said its testing procedures for replacement nurses — and all healthcare workers — has been vetted and approved by physician leaders and the infection prevention team, and public health officials were notified of the hospital's plan.
No new negotiations had been scheduled between the hospital and union as of Nov. 23.