Two Bay Area health care workers are presumptive positive with COVID-19, Alameda County declares health emergency – KTVU San Francisco

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OAKLAND, Calif. – Two Bay Area health care workers are presumptive positive with COVID-19 coronavirus.

Both cases are NorthBay VacaValley Hospital health care workers and are currently in isolation at home; one is a Solano County resident, the other is an Alameda County resident.

Both had exposure to the community-acquired case currently hospitalized at UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento.

The initial case is slowly recovering, and the individual’s family members had negative test results for COVID-19 so far and remain in quarantine.

Public health and hospital staff rapidly identified all health care workers in contact with the case during the case’s hospitalization.

All of those health care workers remain in isolation or in quarantine and will not return to patient care until they are cleared.

Additional COVID-19 cases among them may occur. It is important to remember that the patient did not meet the CDC’s criteria for COVID-19 testing nor the high-risk threshold for use of COVID-19 specific protective personal equipment by people providing care.

• This is the first presumptive-positive case of COVID-19 in Alameda County
• Two new health care worker cases had exposure to a confirmed case
• Aggressive measures are being taken to swiftly identify and isolate all individuals potentially exposed to these new cases
• More COVID-19 cases are expected in the Bay Area and nationwide; now is the time to prepare for increased community spread (cases not connected to travel or other confirmed cases)

“We understand that the evolving news about COVID-19 is concerning, and we are taking the situation very seriously. This news is not unexpected in the Bay Area, and we are ready for cases here. This is not the time to panic; now is the time for all of us to work together.”

— Dr. Erica Pan, Health Officer, Alameda County Public Health Department.

A full contact investigation is underway for the two new health care worker cases, and individuals potentially exposed are in the process of being identified and evaluated.

Teams of epidemiologists from the CDC and California Department of Public Health (CDPH) are assisting the health departments in tracing those who may be at risk for exposure because of the new cases.

Alameda County and Solano County Public Health Departments are monitoring these new cases’ conditions as well as their contacts for symptoms.

Patients with confirmed COVID-19 infection have experienced mild to severe respiratory illness with symptoms such as fever, cough, and shortness of breath.

Similar to the flu, it appears to cause less severe illness in younger people; those with more severe impacts tend to be older, medically fragile individuals with underlying medical conditions.

Health care organizations, government entities, schools and employers should plan now for how best to decrease the spread of illness and lower the impact of COVID-19.