The Medical University of South Carolina temporarily closed its new campus in West Ashley after a close contact of a patient tested presumptive positive for COVID-19.

The person visited their family member at the medical campus, located within West Ashley's Citadel Mall, on Feb. 28. Later, they received a positive test for the virus.

The center has been closed since 5 p.m. Tuesday, MUSC spokeswoman Heather Woolwine said in a statement.

Seventy MUSC staff members are following isolation protocols to avoid spread of the disease. All are under evaluation.

Patients with appointments will be contacted for rescheduling at other MUSC facilities.

"The MUSC Health environmental services team will thoroughly clean, disinfect and then inspect every area of the West Ashley Medical Pavilion before the building reopens," Woolwine said in a statement.

Sign up for our new health newsletter The best of health, hospital and science coverage in South Carolina, delivered to your inbox weekly. Email

Sign Up!

All will wear protective gear while cleaning to keep them from coming into contact with the virus.

A sample collection site MUSC set up in the mall parking lot will remain open. Woolwine said 100 or more people with symptoms that may match coronavirus disease are now using the site per day. Patients need to first be screened using MUSC's virtual platform, musc.care.

Then, MUSC sends the sample off to a lab to be tested.

The West Ashley Medical Pavilion is a new addition to the hospital's network; it opened in January.

The 128,000-square-foot site inside a J.C. Penney department store was set up for services ranging from ambulatory surgery to musculoskeletal care and ophthalmology.