HARTFORD, Conn. — Hartford HealthCare announced it would distribute masks for all of its members, not just those working in the clinical setting.
According to Dr. Ajay Kumar, the chief clinical officer for Hartford HealthCare, the major roll out was planned for Thursday.
“At this time, we’re going to distribute masks for all members of Hartford HealthCare. Initially, we had given them to all the clinical members who were patient facing or interacting with the patients,” said Dr. Kumar. “Now, it’s going to be all members, whether they’re patient facing or not, will get a mask at this time…All 30,000 employees will have access to the masks if they’re working in the non-clinical area at this time.”
According to Dr. Kumar, the masks will be available for employees working in traditional office spaces, including billing, as well as staff members in the IT department. He added a fair amount of the workforce was already working from home.
As for the latest numbers, Dr. Kumar said there are 310 patients across Hartford HealthCare who tested positive for COVID-19. An additional 133 patients are ‘patients under investigation,’ or PUI.
“We continue to see an increase,” Dr. Kumar said. “Around 10% in most of the hospitals. St. Vincent’s and Hartford Hospitals has the largest number of patients at this time.”
While previous models predicted a peak in Connecticut in early April, Dr. Kumar still believes the peak will come near the end of April or early May.
“In early March, when we were predicting that early April was the time we’d see the peak, but, we’ve put together a lot of social distancing measures, so the peak has been delayed,” said Dr. Kumar. “However… we can do better as we go forward in this time, especially in the times of Easter and other holidays. Social distancing is one important factor that is going to make it better.”
Dr. Kumar also invited a respiratory therapist to speak about the drive-thru testing stations.
Steve Donahue, who is also the director of operations for the Center of Education, Simulation and Innovation at Hartford Healthcare, says his team has been covering the drive-thru station since March 16th. He says there are 6 testing sites with drive-thru stations.
“All customers, both employees and the public, are getting oral swabs. The oral swabs are much like going to get a swab for strep throat. It’s a very non-invasive procedure. It takes a couple of minutes to do that. The team will change their PPE after each encounter,” Donahue explained.
He says there are a few things people should have with them when they arrive at one of these testing sites.
“When they come, the most important thing they need is when they come is they need to have an order. They should have an order in their Epic chart… We ask when you come to have your ID with you. We recommend you to not come with a carload of your family, just come as yourself,” Donahue said.
