By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Mosaic Life Care officials say the increase in COVID-19 cases has not taken them by surprise.
Cases are up slightly in Buchanan County and the region since the lifting of restrictions, mainly from a dramatic increase in the number of patients and employees at the Living Community of St. Joseph testing positive for the coronavirus.
But Mosaic Chief Medical Officer Dr. Davin Turner says the medical network anticipated the increase.
“We did believe that when we opened up that we would see an increased number of cases as people went back out and went to large gatherings where most are not wearing masks,” Turner tells reporters.
Mosaic has had to hospitalize some patients with COVID-19; a few have been placed on ventilators. Mosaic has the capacity to treat 352 infectious patients in St. Joseph away from the general hospital population.
Turner says care has been taken to accommodate the special needs of those infected with the coronavirus.
“Inside our facility we have over 100 negative-pressure rooms available to protect those that would have COVID-19 or other contagious diseases,” Turner says. “Understand, on a regular day prior to COVID, we would have multiple people in isolation, because they may be in the hospital for a contagious disease.”
Mosaic recommends residents were masks when out in public. Mosaic requires all employees and visitors to the hospital to wear masks.
Turner says the St. Joseph hospital remains on COVID-19 footing.
“We are not back to normal operations. You shouldn’t believe that we are,” Turner says. “We have a tiered system. We are currently at Tier 5. So, what does that mean? We’ve restricted visitors. We do not allow visitors in COVID-positive patient rooms unless there are very special circumstances.”
Mosaic has tested 12,581 area residents since the pandemic began with 563 testing positive for COVID-19. Twelve patients are currently hospitalized in St. Joseph. The St. Joseph hospital had a total of 21 patients being treated for the coronavirus at one time. Mosaic is awaiting results from 36 tests.
Buchanan County now reports a total of 884 COVID-19 cases since counting began as the total cases at the Living Community of St. Joseph climbs.
The Living Community reports 28 residents and 29 employees have tested positive for the coronavirus.
Andrew County this weekend reported its first death from COVID-19, a man in his 50s with no underlying medical conditions who had been diagnosed with the coronavirus on June 9th. Andrew County reports a total of 55 cases.