3 new Pennsylvania coronavirus patients in hospitals
The Associated Press | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 5 years, 4 months AGO
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Four more people tested positive for the new coronavirus in Pennsylvania on Monday, state officials said, including three people who were hospitalized.
That brings the total number to 10, all adults.
One hospitalized person, a Montgomery County resident, is in critical condition at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, the hospital said. The department did not say which hospitals are caring for the other two patients.
The Department of Health hasn't released many details about the people who have tested positive.
A look at the latest developments in the spread of the new coronavirus in Pennsylvania:
WHAT WE KNOW
All 10 people who the state Department of Health has said tested positive live in eastern Pennsylvania and all are believed to have contracted it by traveling outside the state or outside the country.
Seven are residents of Montgomery County. Others are residents of Monroe, Delaware and Wayne counties. Those who are not hospitalized are at home in isolation, officials said.
One infected person is a cardiologist working for the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia in King of Prussia, CEO Madeline Bell said in a Monday email to staff obtained by The Philadelphia Inquirer.
The hospital suspended services at its King of Prussia specialty care site where the cardiologist practiced, as well as at adjacent allergy clinics, and is redirecting patients to the hospital’s main Philadelphia campus, the Inquirer reported.
The hospital is advising patient families and staff who may have come into contact with the doctor over the past week to self-quarantine at home.
Health Secretary Rachel Levine said the state isn't recommending that large gatherings be canceled.
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WHAT WE DON'T KNOW
The Department of Health is not saying how many samples it is testing, how many negative tests it has taken or how many people it is monitoring under quarantine. It is also not saying where precisely someone traveled when they were exposed.
At least three medical personnel who treated people who tested positive have also been quarantined, newspapers have reported.
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TESTING
The state has a lab in Exton, in suburban Philadelphia, that can make use of new equipment to boost its capacity to test up to 150 people a day from up to 25 people a day.
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SCHOOLS CLOSING
Schools closing, canceling travel and field trips in suburban Philadelphia grew on Monday.
Cheltenham School District said it is closing its buildings this week after it learned that a student’s parent was a caregiver to someone who tested positive.
The Lower Merion School District in Montgomery County canceled classes Tuesday after it said it was told that two students and a staff member may have been exposed to COVID-19 during visits to the Children's Hospital facility in King of Prussia, the facility where the cardiologist works. Those students and the staff member are under quarantine for 14 days, it said.
Germantown Academy in Montgomery County is closing its campus through March 29, the end of spring break. The school informed parents of the more than 1,000 students of the decision Sunday, saying that one of the people from the county who tested positive is a family member of a Germantown Academy student.
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