Rather than spreading the Christmas cheer, an inflatable holiday costume may have helped spread COVID-19 among dozens of staffers at a California hospital, according to a report.
Forty-three employees of the Kaiser Permanente San Jose Medical Center contracted the virus between Dec. 27 and New Year’s Day, and officials say the outbreak may have been related to an employee entering the facility in an “air-powered costume” on Christmas Day. according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
The hospital is investigating the possibility that the ventilator on the costume is spreading respiratory droplets in the air exhaled by a person infected with the virus from the emergency department.
“Any exposure like this would have been completely harmless and quite accidental as the person had no COVID symptoms and was merely trying to cheer those around them during this very stressful time,” said Irene Chavez, senior vice president and The center’s regional manager told the newspaper.
“In any case, this should serve as a very real reminder that the virus is widespread, and often without symptoms, and that we all need to be vigilant,” added Chavez.
The doctors, nurses, technicians and aides who tested positive for COVID-19 last week will now isolate, while officials conduct contact tracing and staff members thoroughly clean the hospital’s emergency department, officials said.
Inflation suits are now “clearly” banned in healthcare, Chavez said.
About 40,000 Kaiser Permanente health workers in California have already been vaccinated against the deadly virus, but it’s unclear whether any of the infected workers were among the vaccinated, according to the report.
It is also unclear exactly what type of inflatable costume the executive was wearing.