The union representing more than 900 nurses at a Bangor hospital wants elective procedures and most patient visits canceled as Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center deals with an outbreak that has infected more than 30 people.
The hospital announced an outbreak of COVID-19 that had infected 27 workers and five patients as of Thursday evening, with many of those cases coming from a surgical post-operative unit, the Bangor Daily News reported.
The hospital also had an uptick in coronavirus patients being admitted this week as cases continue to rise around the state.
EMMC representatives have said that some workers who tested positive in the new outbreak were exposed to the virus out in the community, the newspaper reported. In response to the outbreak, the hospital has increased testing, cut off visitors to the post-operative unit and quarantined patients for 14 days. The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention is looking into what may have caused the outbreak, its director, Dr. Nirav Shah, said Friday.
EMMC has “ongoing discussions” with the nurses union and “has implemented suggestions where possible to keep patients and staff safe,” said Suzanne Spruce, a spokesperson for parent organization Northern Light Health.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.