Brooklyn VA Doctor tested positive for COVID-19 after treating patients

VA physician tests positive for COVID-19, treated patients before being quarantined

Military Times
Patricia Kime
March 17, 2020

A memo distributed to VA New York Health Center employees and obtained by the New York Post said the employee was “doing well,” and “those who interacted with the employee are being contacted.”

The Brooklyn VA Medical Center last week discovered the first case of the novel coronavirus in an employee. (Department of Veterans Affairs photo)

A doctor at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., tested positive for the COVID-19 coronavirus last week, after seeing patients and working alongside other staff members before knowing he had the virus.

VA officials confirmed Friday that an “employee tested presumptive positive for the novel coronavirus” on March 11, but they would say little else about the case, citing privacy concerns.

The employee is the first known VA worker to have contracted the virus.

“On March 11, 2020, one New York Harbor Veterans Affairs Medical Center employee tested presumptive positive for COVID-19. In accordance with CDC guidelines and the patient’s clinical status, the veteran is currently in home isolation, mitigating further risk of transmission to other patients and staff,” Steve Piork, director of the VA New York Public Affairs Office, told Military Times.
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