EAST NORRITON, MONTGOMERY COUNTY, PA (WLVT-TV) Montgomery County continues to have the highest number of covid-19 cases in the state. Still, Einstein Medical Center Montgomery had only one positive case come through so far, but they are preparing for that number to go up. Earlier this week, a person came in who tested positive for coronavirus. Chief Nursing Officer, AnnMarie Papa, says that person has since been transferred to another facility.
Papa says "the patient came in and was seen in our emergency department. We did tests and the tests don't come back in a minute. They take sometimes a couple of days to get your results back. So you keep the patient isolated, they were brought into the hospital, we treated them like we would treat anybody with any kind of a respiratory illness and then when the test came back positive, that patient was moved to a different room.“
In the meantime, Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Angela Nicholas, says they have a plan in place should the number of cases start to rise. She explained that plan by saying "the most important protocol that we put in place is making sure that our staff know what personal protective equipment they should wear. How they should be putting it on, more importantly, how they should be taking it off, and what patients they should be wearing it for, depending on the level of illness or the kinds of illnesses that our patients come in with." However, she says their approach is not much different from how they treat any infectious disease that may come through the emergency room.
Hospital officials say although more people are coming into the ER with cough and cold-like symptoms, fewer people are coming in for minor injuries.
Dr. Nicholas also reminds everyone to continue to wash their hands.