Providence Health & Services closed a unit at its hospital in northeastern Portland after a major outbreak of COVID-19 that caused 49 employees and patients to contract the virus.
The outbreak, the largest to date in a metropolitan area hospital in the Portland area, is believed to have started around December 20 and was centered on the hospital’s 4-k unit. It is not a COVID unit, but it does deal with stable patients, but who need intense and continuous care, such as strokes and traumatic brain injuries.
Providence spokesman Gary Walker confirmed the outbreak and added that 36 hospital staff and 13 patients had contracted the virus. None of them died and most were asymptomatic or were only slightly ill, Walker said.
Jeremy Shipley, a five-year veteran registered nurse, worked at the 4-ke unit and contracted the virus. He is recovering and is expected to return to work this weekend. But it was also devastating, he said, to catch COVID, despite his meticulous attention to security.
“I have been a champion of personal protection and caution,” he said. “I feel a huge shame that I was the only member of our team who fell.”
Some hospitals in Oregon have been hit hard by the virus. A total of 158 employees and patients have hired COVID at Salem Hospital since June. Another 87 have been infected at Good Shepherd Hospital in Hermiston since last summer. The Mercy Medical Center in Roseburg has reported 61 COVID cases since last summer.
Earlier this month, the PeaceHealth Southwest Washington Medical Center in Vancouver suffered an outbreak of 29 people.
This latest outbreak is the fourth in a Providence facility since November and by far the largest.
Jeff Manning 971-263-5164 [email protected]