Harborview Medical Center in Seattle has recorded the first case of a patient acquiring the new coronavirus while receiving treatment for another condition at the hospital, the medical director of its infection prevention and control program told The Seattle Times.
The case is the first hospital-acquired coronavirus infection recorded at the hospital since the pandemic began. The male patient in his 60s came to the hospital for urgent surgery in early April. He was tested for the new coronavirus when we was admitted, and the test result was negative. The hospital tested the man April 14 before he was supposed to be discharged to a skilled nursing facility, but this time, the test result was positive.
John Lynch, MD, the infection control program's medical director told The Seattle Times that though there is a chance that the man was infected when he was admitted it is more likely he acquired the coronavirus infection while at the hospital. Incubation for the novel coronavirus can take up to 14 days, the same amount of time the patient had been in the hospital at the time of his second test.
"We're going to call it a healthcare-associated infection," Dr. Lynch told The Seattle Times. "That helps us take responsibility for it and triggers our investigations."
The facility will now begin investigating all staff who came into contact with the patient during his stay and any patients who may have shared space with him.
The hospital found out that a healthcare worker who had tested positive for COVID-19 interacted with the patient about a week ago.
Dr. Lynch also told The Seattle Times that it is likely many patients have acquired COVID-19 in U.S. hospitals, but a lack of testing may be getting in the way of figuring out how many.
"In many parts of the country, this patient never would have been tested," he said, according to the publication.