Metro

Doctor at Brooklyn VA Medical Center tests positive for coronavirus

A doctor at the Brooklyn VA Medical Center has tested positive for the coronavirus, according to officials and an internal memo.

The March 11 memo obtained by The Post says the VA employee contracted the virus through community spread, is quarantined at home and doing well. The worker lives in Manhattan.

“Those who interacted with the employee are being contacted and the risk of infection is being assessed,” the memo says.

A VA spokesman Friday confirmed to The Post that “an employee tested presumptive positive for COVID-19” on March 11.

“In accordance with CDC guidelines and the patient’s clinical status, the employee is currently in home isolation, mitigating further risk of transmission to other patients and staff,” said the spokesman, Steve Piork. “The facility is currently awaiting confirmatory results from the Centers for Disease Control.”





James Fitzgerald, director of NYC Veterans Alliance, said the employee is a doctor who treated patients at the Fort Hamilton, Brooklyn, facility on Monday and Tuesday after coming into contact with someone who had coronavirus at religious services last weekend.

A VA staffer confirmed that the infected doctor treated patients earlier this week.

Fitzgerald is concerned that the potentially deadly virus may have spread to his members.

“When it comes to the veterans’ community we have to take into account that this is a vulnerable population for many health considerations, including respiratory disease associated with Agent Orange,” Fitzgerald said.

Vets visiting the hospital Friday were also worried.

“It scares the sh-t out of me,” said 72-year-old veteran Ed Cavaliere.





“He might pass it to somebody else, and somebody else might pass it to somebody, and it might end up with me, and I don’t want to bring it home to my family,” Cavaliere said.

But others were blasé.

“It doesn’t matter to me that somebody has it. Everybody is going to have it,” said Joseph David, 57, an advocate for homeless veterans.

“It’s not like we’re going to have zombies walking on the street. Most of these veterans have seen worse,” David said.

Allan Hyatt, 72, said the situation is “a little disconcerting” but “not shocking.

“What are the odds of it not happening?” he wondered.





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