LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Norton Healthcare’s president and CEO Russell Cox announced 45 Norton employees have tested positive for coronavirus out of 250 employees tested. Of the 45 positive employee cases, Cox reports one person is being treated in the hospital. 

“So far in Norton Healthcare we’ve had 127 patients who have tested positive for the COVID-19 virus,” Cox told reporters on Monday. 

“Right now 34 of them are in our in-patient care. We have 19 patients at Norton Audubon Hospital. We have seven patients in Norton Women's and Children's Hospital. We have four in Norton Hospital and we have four in Norton Brownsboro Hospital,” Cox lists. 

In all, 282 Norton employees are currently furloughed at home with pay. “And again those may have been, that they had potential exposure to an a-symptomatic patient that became positive or they may be folks who are exhibiting symptoms,” Steve Hester said. 

Hester is the Chief Medical Officer for Norton. Hester says the positive COVID-19 cases among Norton employees span the entire network of hospitals and clinics and includes clinical and non-clinical staffers. Hester says Norton is attempting to determine how and when employees may have been exposed. 

“Each of those patients who present symptoms or we find a positive…we look to see if that patient was in isolation when they came to that facility, we track those,” Hester said.

“So far since the beginning of this journey, we have tested 1715 people. We are still waiting for results of 754 of those tests,” Russell Cox noted. “That is something that has been very frustrating but very understandable, nationwide, the ability to quickly get back the results of those tests. These are not tests that are done in the hospital. They are not an immediate response test,” Russell Cox explains. 

High demand has led to delays in test results coming back nationally. 

Hester did emphasize positives cases among employees is not surprising considering how many employees Norton has and the risk of community spread.

“We have 16-thousand plus, employees, and when you look at that we are going to have positives just from community spread. Whether they are healthcare workers or not you see this in the community,” Hester explained.