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Three staff members at Valley Medical Center in Renton, Washington, tested positive for COVID-19 and are recovering at home, the hospital said Saturday.
Valley Medical, part of UW Medicine, currently is treating 11 persons under investigation for the coronavirus plus six patients who have tested positive. The Seattle area has been a hot spot for the COVID-19 pandemic.
The hospital said its second COVID-19 patient was transferred to Valley Medical from Life Care Center in Kirkland. All staff on the patients' care teams have been trained in recommended infection prevention and control practices, and all interactions with the patients are being monitored by Valley Medical's infection prevention team, according to a hospital spokeswoman.
Valley Medical currently is sending specimens to various testing locations with an anticipated turnaround of 48 hours. It's currently testing only patients who have had known contact with a COVID-19 positive person and are symptomatic, or are critically ill and require hospitalization.
The spokeswoman said inventory of supplies such as face masks for staff currently are adequate.
The statewide case number in Washington was at least 573 as of Friday, with at least 37 deaths, according to the state Department of Health. The total for King County, which includes Seattle, was 328 total cases and 32 deaths.
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee on Friday ordered all K-12 public and private schools closed, affecting more than 1.2 million students.
