Two-dozen patients who have undergone testing for the COVID-19 coronavirus are currently in isolation and undergoing treatment at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield.

All of the patients exhibited symptoms indicative of a severe flu or a viral pneumonia and are suspected to have COVID-19, Baystate Health president and CEO Dr. Mark A. Keroack told The Republican today.

“Our message to the general public is (the COVID-19 coronavirus) is here. It’s in our community now,” Keroack told a meeting of the newspaper’s editorial board. “We must all take seriously all of the advice on protection.”

Keroack and Dr. Andrew W. Artenstein, the health system’s chief physician executive, underscored the need for the public to be vigilant in taking steps to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus in the community. Both physicians have specialized in the treatment of infectious diseases during the course of their medical careers.

“We are paying close attention to the public health measures being implemented at the state and national levels, and we support the measures to eliminate events where large crowds gathered,” Keroack said.

The meeting with The Republican came within hours of the announcement that the Boston Marathon will be postponed to September and Gov. Charlie Baker placing a ban on all public gatherings for groups of 250 people or more.

“We encourage all employees, including our own, to avoid, large face-to-face meetings when possible,” Keroack said. “We know countries that don’t expect the presence of this virus or don’t prepare can become overwhelmed. We are determined at Baystate to avoid that by advance preparation and to act to quarantine and do social distancing before the virus can spread.”

Artenstein said the simple individual acts of frequent hand washing, staying home when feeling sick, not gathering for meetings of more than 20 people and social distancing will, hopefully, contribute significantly to helping contain the spread of COVID-19.

Keroack and Artenstein also said Baystate is leading a regional effort by health care providers, including Holyoke and Mercy medical centers and Cooley Dickinson and Shriners hospitals, to coordinate response and prepare facilities to care for what they expect will be a rise in the number of suspected — and confirmed — cases of COVID-19. They are working in close coordination with the Western Massachusetts legislative delegation and municipal leaders to ensure a coordinated approach to address ways to help contain the virus and meet the health care needs of those it reaches.

Of the 24 people now in isolation, Keroack said, “(They) tested negative for all the usual suspects,” including flu and pneumonia, and the results of tests for COVID-19 are pending. “It would not surprise me if we got our first positive test back in the next couple of days,” he said.

Baystate has “taken out of mothballs” available spaces which will serve both as an isolation unit and continuing care unit for confirmed cases of COVID-19. “We will expand capabilities as the epidemic unfolds,” Keroack said.

As of Friday, the state’s Department of Public Health said there were 18 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Massachusetts and 105 presumptive cases. There were no confirmed or presumptive cases in Hampden, Hampshire or Franklin counties, according to the state data.

Related Content: