LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – Top executives at Norton Healthcare said Monday that the Louisville-based health system’s size and reach help explain why 45 of its employees have tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
Norton has more than 16,000 employees, five hospitals and countless physician offices, CEO Russ Cox told reporters on a conference call.
“Certainly when you look at an organization that has that many hospitals, that many physician offices, and you look at the fact that 57% of the community is entrusted with your care, it is going to make sense that number (of employee COVID-19 cases) is going to correspond,” Cox said.
Dr. Steven Hester, Norton’s chief medical officer, noted that the highly contagious virus is spreading among the general population in Louisville and the cases among Norton employees are “not unlike our representation of the rest of the community.”
“We have 16,000-plus employees, so when you at that, we are going to have positives just from community spread,” he said.
There were 439 cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Kentucky as of Sunday afternoon, including 140 in Louisville.
Kentucky had an increase of 45 new cases on Sunday, down from the 92 Gov. Andy Beshear announced on Saturday. In Louisville, Mayor Greg Fischer said Sunday there were 9 new cases in the city.
Indiana has confirmed 1,786 cases, including 62 in Clark, Floyd and Harrison counties.
Cox said Norton has “significant measures” in place to protect employees from contracting the disease including an app that helps them evaluate their health on their phone, a centralized “command center” for employees to call if they have symptoms and paid time off for those who need to stay home.
“We have tried to do our best to help employees stay healthy and be the ones who are treating patients, and not patients (themselves),” Cox said.
Cox said Norton is treating 127 COVID-19 patients, 34 of whom are hospitalized at Norton Audubon (19), Norton Women’s and Children’s (7), Norton Hospital downtown (4) and Norton Brownsboro Hospital (4). One of the hospitalized patients is among the 45 Norton employees, he said.
Cox said the Norton system’s patient volumes are down because of the cancellation of elective surgeries and diagnostic procedures.
“We are ready (and) we are well-staffed,” for a potential “surge” in COVID-19 patients, he said.
Cox said 550 of the 1,174 acute-care beds in the Norton system are occupied, and in a pinch, the system could bring its total bed capacity to 1,469. It has 163 intensive care beds and could generate more, though Cox did say how many.
As for ventilators, Norton has 222, of which 80 are in use. The system can convert “anesthesia machines” to make for 356 ventilators if needed, he said.
Norton is one of the three big health care providers in Louisville, along with U of L Health and Baptist Health.
U of L Health, which now has more than 10,000 employees after absorbing KentuckyOne Health's hospitals and outpatient centers, said Monday that it has 6 confirmed cases among its staff.
The system is treating five patients with the disease.
Norton executives said they had tested 250 employees for the disease, compared to 87 employees "evaluated" by U of L Health.
Baptist Health has about 19,500 employees in its eight hospitals and medical group practices and facilities in Kentucky and Southern Indiana.
As of Sunday, Baptist reported 14 cases among its employees in the Louisville region (hospitals in Louisville, La Grange, Ky. and Floyd County, Ind.).
