Local hospitals with confirmed cases of COVID-19 are continuing their work combating the spread of the virus.
On Wednesday, the Herald reported that two patients were being treated at the Hospital of Central Connecticut (HOCC) for positive cases of COVID-19 at its New Britain campus. On Friday, it was announced that an employee at Bristol Health employee has tested positive as well.
The two patients at HOCC are a husband and wife in their 70s who are currently in isolation at the hospital. The Bristol Health employee, who does not reside in Bristol, is in self quarantined and will continue to be isolated.
No further information could be released about the cases at HOCC.
At Bristol Health, fast tracked employee screening began on Saturday morning to ensure no other employees have the virus.
“That’s been going well, as well as our visitor screening,” spokesperson Chris Boyle said.
Employees had their temperature taken and were screened for shortness of breath, a cough or any exposure to the virus.
Boyle went on to say that things have been made easy by the public’s willingness to cooperate.
“What we’ve been finding since Wednesday is that the public is being very cooperative,” Boyle said. “They know we’re all in this together.”
Patient testing continued at Bristol Health with 53 being tested Saturday bringing the total to almost 400, Boyle said.
Those tests, which are being sent to the Quest Diagnostics lab in Virginia, have been taking about a week for results and none had come back positive yet, according to Boyle.
As of 3:30 p.m. Friday, there were 194 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Connecticut, with 29 in Hartford County, according to the Department of Public Health.