Rio and São Paulo Hospitals Have Healthcare Professionals with Coronavirus

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Two hospitals, one in Rio and another in São Paulo, have already recorded new coronavirus infections among their health professionals. Among them is the Pedro Ernesto University Hospital, linked to the Rio de Janeiro State University (UERJ), which had two doctors infected.

One of the doctors is from nephrology, currently hospitalized in a critical condition in a private network facility. The other doctor, a professor at UERJ, also tested positive for the virus but is in good health and in home isolation.

Despite having two professionals infected, no patient in the hospital has been infected and there are no patients admitted with the diagnosis on site nor confirmation that the virus is circulating in the medical center.

“As the pandemic progresses, we are likely to have cases, but this is not happening now,” Ronaldo Damião, the hospital’s director said in a statement.

Although it does not yet have hospitalized patients, the university hospital is being prepared to act as one of Rio’s supporting centers for patients with coronavirus who show severe symptoms.

“The hospital has assigned a specific ward for these patients, with ten beds equipped with respirators. There are five other beds for isolation. In addition, next week, 15 more beds will be available,” the institution said in a statement.

In São Paulo, the infections were reported in the Sancta Maggiore hospital network, operated by Prevent Senior. According to Pedro Benedito Batista Junior, the company’s executive director, at least 15 health professionals have already been diagnosed or classified as suspected cases.

Of this total, there is one employee hospitalized in critical condition. She is 33 years old and suffers from asthma, a condition that poses a risk of complications for the Covid-19.

In addition to dealing with the infection of employees, the health plan firm, which is focused on the older public, has already had 24 positive diagnoses for the coronavirus and has assigned a unit in the São Paulo region for infected patients.

Since the onset of the outbreak, the firm has performed more than 300 tests on suspected cases of the disease, of which only 56 have proven positive.

The first death from the disease in Brazil was recorded at the Sancta Maggiore facility in the Paraíso neighborhood of São Paulo.

Source: Estadão