As of Monday afternoon, Orange County reported 18 positive COVID-19 cases. The first confirmed case was diagnosed early last week.
On March 10, a patient visited Montefiore St. Luke’s Cornwall Hospital in Newburgh. The patient was tested and two days later was confirmed positive for the Coronavirus.
During a conference call on March 12, Orange County Health Commissioner Dr. Irina Gelman said when the Orange County Health Department received notification of the positive test, the patient was hospitalized and isolated.
A line list was created of all people who came in contact with the patient. Twenty-six hospital employees were placed on furlough for 14 days. The employees were not ill and aren’t expected to become ill, said Dan Maughan, chief operating officer for St. Luke’s. Other individuals have been notified and quarantined as necessary – some self isolating in some instances.
After the 14-day period from time of exposure, if no illness exists, the employees are free and clear to return to work.
Health professionals are urging patients to remain at home and call their primary care physician if they believe they’ve been exposed or are experiencing symptoms of the Coronavirus. What’s coming to the hospital should be high risk individuals who have potentially been exposed or have respiratory illnesses that are severe enough to require a visit to the emergency department, urgent care, or doctor’s office.
Since it’s still cold and flu season, not all patients are being tested for the virus. Patients are being screened to determine if they have traveled recently to any affected countries or been exposed to someone within the last 14 days.
Individuals who need to be tested, will get tested, but those who don’t meet the criteria for clinical testing are asked to stay home and contact their local provider to make sure their needs are assessed appropriately. Although the tests may be available, not everyone will be tested because it’s possible to contract the virus after testing, ruling out a future diagnosis.
When a clinician determines the criteria has been met to warrant a test, a respiratory panel will also be ordered to rule out other infections and diagnosis for upper and lower respiratory infections. Once the panel is complete and other infections are ruled out, the COVID-19 test is ordered.
When a test is ordered and swab is complete, it’s sent to a lab where it can take five to six hours to get the results.
Once a positive test is confirmed, hospitals are following Center for Disease Control, New York State and local Department of Health requirements for containment.
Patients who arrive at the hospital are placed in two categories: people under investigation and those known to have the virus. People under investigation with respiratory illness are immediately masked and placed in isolation. A determination is made if testing needs to be done or if the person should go home and self isolate.
Eighty percent of the people who develop the virus will experience mild symptoms and should stay home and use supportive therapy such as Tylenol for a fever or whatever a healthcare professional prescribes for a cough.
If the hospital is made aware of a person coming from an area and is at high risk, they go immediately into an isolation room with protective equipment in place and staff ready to manage their condition.
It’s not known how long it takes the virus to clear the system as each person will respond differently depending on their age and if they have other chronic medical conditions.
For up to date information, visit https://www.orangecountygov.com/1936/COVID-19Coronavirus.
