SAN ANTONIO – A hospital doctor for University Health System in San Antonio has contracted the new coronavirus, a spokesperson told KSAT Monday afternoon.
“One of our physician residents has been confirmed to have COVID-19 and is quarantined at home. The infection is travel-related. We are currently tracing potential contacts and putting staff who have been in contact on 14-day quarantine. At this point we have about a dozen hospital staff members quarantined after contact with this physician,” said Elizabeth Allen, a spokesperson for University Health System, in a statement to KSAT.
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Allen said the health care system received test results late Sunday night and that the physician had “been quarantined for several days by the time we got confirmation.” It isn’t clear whether this case is one of the three travel-related cases in San Antonio being investigated by city health officials.
The hospital is taking steps to protect the public and staff, including “implementing temperature checks for everyone entering the hospital,” she said.
Allen also said that, in the wake of school closures, the hospital is developing a childcare system “for those staff members struggling with healthcare for their children. The aim of this initiative is to connect employees who may have family members in a position with a co-worker in need of child care.”
An additional case, not counted in the three, was confirmed in a USAA employee on Sunday night, company officials said.
San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg and Texas Governor Greg Abbott scheduled a news conference Monday at 2 p.m. Monday to provide updates on testing availability and the efforts in place to combat the spread of COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the new virus. The news conference will be livestreamed at KSAT.com.
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