The emergency department at a southeast Missouri hospital is in what it calls crisis mode after two ER doctors tested positive for COVID-19.
Perry County Memorial Hospital in Perryville had an asymptomatic, on-duty emergency room physician test positive for the virus last Friday after another physician, who was off-duty at the time, had tested positive. Once the news was relayed to the healthcare team, a third Emergency Room physician declined to report to work and later resigned indefinitely.
Hospital officials say because they only have six to seven ER doctors to cover the emergency department, they had the physician who tested positive last Friday don PPE and continue to treat patients until a replacement could be found. Each individual’s exposure was evaluated by the Chief Medical Officer and Infection Prevention Nurse to determine risk of transmission.
The hospital says all patients in the ER at that time were notified of the potential exposure.
