Geriatric ward in Netanya stricken by large COVID-19 outbreak
Coronavirus has swept through Laniado Hospital’s old-age department, infecting at least 24 patients out of 30, as facility struggles with staff, testing shortages
Nathan Jeffay is The Times of Israel's health and science correspondent
Coronavirus has swept through the geriatric ward of an Israeli hospital, infecting the vast majority of patients and some staff members.
“Now, 24 of the patients have been moved to a coronavirus ward,” Asael Shahaf, spokesman for Laniado Hospital in Netanya, told The Times of Israel, saying that just six geriatric patients were spared from infection.
Shahaf stated that the hospital has been forced to open a new coronavirus ward to cope with the pressure, as it already had 20 coronavirus patients before the outbreak was discovered on Friday.
He said that some staff members have tested positive and/or been put in quarantine, but declined to say how many.
According to Health Ministry figures, as of Wednesday morning the hospital’s coronavirus ward was at 120 percent capacity, one of three hospitals over 100%, and 99 health workers were in quarantine.
“We don’t know what the source of the infection was, but we’re conducting an epidemiological investigation,” Shahaf said. He noted that foreign care workers and contractors tasked with maintenance work have been present in the geriatric ward.
This is the most serious outbreak affecting the elderly in Israel’s second wave, according to virus expert Dr. Rivka Abulafia-Lapid, director of a virology laboratory at Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem.
However, Abulafia-Lapid said the fallout in the geriatric ward will be better-contained than if this number of people were infected elsewhere.
“Geriatric wards are usually isolated, so there is a good chance that this won’t spread further in the hospital — a contrast to if it had been, say, at an [elderly care] home,” she told The Times of Israel. “Also, it’s not comparable to an outbreak at a synagogue or a wedding hall, from where it can spread in Israeli society, something that is unlikely to happen as a result of this incident.”
Shahaf revealed that Laniado is trying to cope with the outbreak amid a shortage of kits for conducting coronavirus tests using its machines, after the hospital received less than half the normal weekly supply this week. Shahaf said that national supply problems are to blame.
Prof. Tzvi Shimoni, medical director of Laniado, told Army Radio on Wednesday that the first of the infected patients was discovered when taken to the emergency room and subjected to routine coronavirus testing.
He said that the epidemiological investigation is “very complex,” as there are many avenues to explore.
