8 THE QUEENS COURIER • MARСH 19, 2020 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
сoronavirus
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Hospital workers in Brooklyn who treated city’s
fi rst coronavirus fatality went into isolation
BY ALEJANDRA
O’CONNELL-DOMENECH
adomenech@qns.com
@QNS
Th e fi rst coronavirus patient in New
York City to die from complications of
the illness — an 82-year-old woman from
Ridgewood, Queens, who succumbed
Saturday morning at Brooklyn’s Wyckoff
Heights Medical Center — had sent the
medical personnel who fi rst treated her
into precautionary quarantines, according
to the hospital’s CEO.
None of the personnel, which includes
FDNY ambulance workers along with
Wyckoff emergency staff and physicians,
has shown any symptoms of COVID-
19, Ramon Rodriguez told amNewYork
Metro Saturday. Th ey will return to work
at the hospital when the quarantine is lift -
ed on Wednesday, March. 17, he said. All
those asked to self-quarantine were sent
home with pay.
Rodriguez said a “good amount” of personnel
on duty the day the patient arrived
at Wyckoff Heights, March 3, went into
self-quarantine; he did not specify the
exact number due to privacy concerns.
About 250 people are seen in a day
at Wyckoff ’s emergency room, according
to Rodriguez; when fl u season hits,
that number can spike up to 300 a day.
Th ere are about 100 people who work in
Wyckoff ’s adult and pediatric emergency
departments, which are connected. At
any given moment, there are roughly 40
doctors, nurses, physician extenders and
residents on the ER fl oor.
“We have one of the busiest emergency
rooms of any community hospital,”
Rodriguez said. “Th e only hospitals that
see more people than we do are very large
teaching hospitals.”
Th e 82-year-old woman had advanced
emphysema and passed at around 3 a.m
Saturday morning. It is unclear exactly
why the woman was transported to
the hospital by ambulance on March 3,
but Rodriguez said it could have been
because she was having diffi culty breathing.
Many patients with advanced emphysema
suff er through periods where they are
unable to breathe. She was cared for by a
daughter who lived with her.
Aft er the woman tested positive for
COVID-19, her daughter placed herself
in quarantine at home and is asymptomatic,
Rodriguez said.
Shortly aft er the 82-year-old arrived at
Wyckoff ’s emergency room, Rodriguez
noted, she was placed in isolation in a
negative pressure room. Only one other
person who received care in the same
emergency room has tested positive for
COVID-19, and they entered the hospital
10 days aft er the 82-year-old woman
arrived at the hospital and were transferred
to another facility four days later.
No other patients have tested positive
for the virus, Rodriguez added.
Wyckoff Heights Medical Center in Brooklyn.
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