Coronavirus Wisconsin: Images from Wednesday, March 18

Molly Beck | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

UPDATE (April 1, 2020): None of the more than 100 employees and patients at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin tested positive for COVID-19 after being exposed to a doctor who contracted the virus last month, officials from the hospital confirmed Wednesday.

The hospital had planned to test 200 employees and patients but halted testing after learning results from the first batch. Read more

Two hundred patients and health care workers at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin are being tested for coronavirus after a doctor who worked with children with severely compromised immune systems contracted the disease.

Officials at the Wauwatosa hospital began testing Tuesday after a doctor — whose patients included at least one child undergoing cancer treatment — discovered he picked up the virus while traveling outside of Wisconsin.

None of the patients considered to be at the highest risk of developing serious respiratory illness tested positive for the virus, Mike Gutzeit, the hospital's chief medical officer, said in an interview Wednesday.

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But a national shortage of tests for the virus is leaving out some at the hospital who have been exposed to the doctor, including the father of a teenage girl with leukemia who is being isolated with his daughter.

The doctor worked in the hospital without knowing he had the virus for about a week, hospital officials say, and the vast majority being tested are hospital workers — 10 are patients.

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Another 28 patients who were exposed to the doctor are being contacted about the doctor's diagnosis and could be tested, according to hospital spokesman Andrew Brodzeller.

Gutzeit said the hospital prioritized which patients and workers needed to be tested by level of risk and level of exposure.

He said by Wednesday hospital officials had identified which patients and workers came into contact with the doctor and had traced who those patients and workers had contact with since their exposure to the doctor.

"This is a tremendous amount of work — we had a team working on it 36 hours straight," he said.

The father of a 14-year-old patient who is receiving chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant, who asked not to be identified to protect his daughter's privacy, wasn't tested like his daughter until after the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Wednesday on his daughter's situation.

The father told the Journal Sentinel on Tuesday evening that he hadn't been allowed to be tested despite being quarantined with his daughter.

"What if she's negative and I come down with it and infect her?" he said, before he was notified he'd be tested Wednesday evening. "They are setting themselves up for a huge lawsuit because common sense isn't being used here."

The patient's father said nurses and staff were not wearing protective gear, such as masks, before learning a doctor had the virus and questioned why he has not been given a mask or protective gear after coming into contact with the same hospital staff as his daughter who is now being isolated.

Gutzeit said the hospital had to prioritize testing because "there are limitations to testing right now because of significant demand." He said the hospital has stringent policies on how to prevent spread of infection, including following national guidelines for when to wear protective gear around patients with compromised immune systems.

"Because of the unprecedented times that we’re in and because of national and local and state emergencies that have been declared, we are working to make sure we are following those practices," he said.

A longtime Children's Hospital nurse, who asked not to be identified, said the staff was notified by email within the last week that a physician had tested positive for the virus known as COVID-19, but that the email didn't explain how the administration planned to manage the situation.

The nurse said there is a lot of uncertainty among staff and little reassurance from hospital executives that they have a plan.

"It's tense, tense, tense," she said. "There are so many questions and not enough transparency."

It's unclear how many people who were exposed to the infected doctor were then asked to isolate themselves to prevent the virus from spreading. Brodzeller did not immediately answer that question.

The doctor is quarantined at home, with mild symptoms, and is recovering, according to Brodzeller.

"We have seen this happen at health care organizations across the nation, and we knew it was only a matter of time before we had a confirmed case on our team," he said.

The large number of tests called for by the hospital puts even more pressure on the state's testing supply, which is already at risk of running out within days. And statewide testing policies may have played a factor in who was tested at Children's Hospital.

State health officials on Tuesday set standards to prioritize which tests to process first, a day after the director of the State Laboratory of Hygiene, which is the primary facility testing for the virus, said supplies are "stressed."

A spokeswoman for the Department of Health Services did not immediately answer when state officials learned about the situation at Children's Hospital and how it affects the state's testing supply.

Raquel Rutledge of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.