Hospital CEO says 13 employees, including a physician, tested positive for COVID-19 earlier this month. Another 105 employees are being monitored.

This content is being provided for free as a public service to our readers during the coronavirus outbreak. Please support local journalism by subscribing to your local newspaper.

Tracing of three isolated incidents of coronavirus infection at Stormont Vail Health in Topeka means the largest hospital in Shawnee County will be listed as a cluster site by state health officials during the pandemic, Stormont Vail officials said Tuesday.

Robert Kenagy, president and CEO at Stormont Vail, said in an interview that testing identified 13 employees, including a physician, as positive for COVID-19. Two of the 13 have recovered and returned to duty, he said.

He said positive tests were tracked to an outpatient clinic associated with the hospital and the hospital’s emergency department and anesthesia recovery unit.

Test results on a physician April 6 led the hospital to categorize three other doctors as high risk for infection and 41 additional personnel as low risk for contracting the virus. None of the 44 has tested positive, Kenagy said.

However, he said, other people in contact with the physician did test positive. It isn’t clear where those people encountered the virus, he said.

"Stormont Vail Health and our team members are in a high-risk environment for COVID-19," Kenagy said. "It’s inevitable that some of our team members may become exposed to an individual that tests positive with COVID-19 due to the nature of the virus."

He said hospital policy prohibited disclosure of the infected doctor’s identity. The individual apparently misinterpreted symptoms as seasonal allergies or a pre-existing respiratory issue, he said, but other personnel observing the doctor requested the doctor be tested. He was tested April 3 and sent home.

Kenagy said 105 hospital team members, or 2% of the hospital’s workforce, were placed under special monitoring because they were at risk of contracting COVID-19. Sixteen of the 105 are health care providers. By the end of this week, he said, about 60 in that group are expected to be removed from the watch list.

Stormont Vail’s quarantine roster has fallen from a high of 150 on Monday, he said.

Listing of the hospital as a cluster site is the responsibility of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, which on Monday had documented 23 such locations in Kansas. Half were assisted living facilities, but KDHE’s list included religious venues, several businesses and a state prison. Stormont Vail expects to be added to the list as early as Wednesday.

Stormont Vail employees suspected of having come in contact with a person or place where infection occurred are placed under scrutiny for 14 days, Kenagy said. Not all stop working at the hospital, but each is examined regularly.

Two of the three physicians considered at high risk for infection returned to work early after testing negative, showing no symptoms of the coronavirus and needed at the hospital, Kenagy said.

"We’ve really been very careful about following guidance from CDC and KDHE," he said. "We’ve done all the tracers. We’ve tried to figured out where the contacts are and if the contact was low, or medium or high risk. We’ve done a lot of testing."

Stormont Vail requires employees to wear a mask during work hours because some people with the virus can appear asymptomatic. In addition, staff must take and log their temperature twice a day. If anyone exhibits symptoms, the hospital mandates they don’t come to work.

He said the Topeka hospital had a peak of 13 patients with COVID-19. Two patients died, seven have been discharged and nine remained hospitalized, he said.

Stormont Vail expects to begin use of its own coronavirus testing machine next week, he said. More than 3,000 home-sewn masks have been donated to Stormont Vail, he said.

"We are really grateful for the people who are sewing these and donating them," he said.

On April 5, Stormont Vail said unprecedented financial disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic prompted salary reductions of 50% for nonessential employees and cuts of 10% to 35% for other staff at the hospital. The expenditure reductions are to be reviewed every 30 days in response to COVID-19.

The plan preserves staff assigned to "essential face-to-face patient care roles working in acute care and ambulatory settings" by not adjusting compensation for those health workers, Kenagy said.