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Cincinnati Children’s: Employee of ‘key partner’ tests positive for COVID-19

Butler Co. Health handling situation
Cincinnati Children's Hospital to cut $250M
Posted at 10:59 PM, Mar 13, 2020
and last updated 2020-03-14 00:04:29-04

Editor’s note: With our coronavirus coverage, our goal is not to alarm you but to equip you with the information you need. We will try to keep things in context and focus on helping you make decisions. See a list of resources and frequently asked questions at the end of this story.

CINCINNATI — Cincinnati Children’s Hospital confirmed Friday night that an employee of a “key partner organization” tested positive for coronavirus/COVID-19.

The employee is now in quarantine at home.

“Upon notification of this employee’s diagnosis from Butler County General Health District, we immediately initiated a contact investigation to determine which staff, patients and family members may be at risk,” read a statement from the hospital.

Staff who came into contact with the employee are also quarantined at home. Children’s notified patients and families as well.

Butler County General Health District is handling the situation.

Earlier Friday, the health district announced four confirmed cases of COVID-19, the first known coronavirus cases in the Greater Cincinnati area. Butler County Emergency Management Director Matt Haverkos told WCPO Friday night there are no new positive cases reported in the county as of Friday afternoon.

"Our thoughts are with this employee and those affected by COVID-19," the statement from Children's read. "We cannot provide any further information due to patient and employee privacy laws. We will continue to partner with public health officials to ensure all those we serve have the information they need to remain healthy."

Find more coronavirus/COVID-19 hotlines and resources below:

Ohio

  • Department of Health COVID-19 hotline: 833-4-ASK-ODH
  • See ODH’s COVID-19 resources here.

Kentucky

  • State COVID-19 hotline: 1-800-722-5725
  • See the Cabinet for Health and Family Services coronavirus resource site here.

Indiana

What is coronavirus, COVID-19?

According to the World Health Organization, coronaviruses are "a large family of viruses that cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV).

A novel coronavirus, such as COVID-19, is a new strain that has not been previously identified in humans.

COVID-19 was first identified in December 2019 in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China and has now been detected in 45 countries across the globe, including in the U.S., according to the CDC.

The CDC reports the initial patients in China have some link to a large seafood and live animal market, indicative of animal-to-person spread. A growing number of patients, however, did not report exposure to animal markets, indicating the disease is spreading person-to-person.

What are the symptoms? How does it spread?

Confirmed cases of COVID-19 have ranged from mild symptoms to severe illness and death, according to the CDC. Symptoms can include fever, cough, shortness of breath.

The CDC said symptoms could appear in as few as two days or as long as 14 days after exposure. It is similar to the incubation period for MERS.

Spread of the virus is thought to be mainly from person-to-person. Spread is between people who are in close contact with one another (within about six feet). Spread occurs via respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes. The droplets can land in the mouths or noses of people who are nearby or possibly be inhaled into the lungs.

According to the CDC, it could be possible for a person to get COVID-19 by touching a surface or object that has the virus on it and then touching their own mouth, nose or possibly their eyes. This is not thought to be the main way the virus spreads, the CDC said.

The disease is most contagious when people are the sickest and showing the most symptoms.