Oregon State Hospital (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter)
Regular treatments and activities are resuming at the Oregon State Hospital’s Salem campus as a Covid outbreak that has sickened hundreds of patients and employees over the past two months is now winding down.
The hospital is lifting additional restrictions imposed during the omicron surge after going five days without any patients testing positive for Covid, hospital spokeswoman Aria Seligmann said.
The smaller Junction City hospital campus hit that threshold Feb. 7, she said.
In Salem, that means physical and occupational therapy, vocational training and one-on-one clinical appointments for patients are resuming starting Thursday. The hospital’s “treatment mall,” the primary place where patients attend classes and participate in therapy, will again be open for patients recently admitted to the hospital.
The hospital saw a surge in patients and employees with Covid starting in late December. Hospital leaders locked down two units Jan. 2 after multiple patients tested positive for the virus and stopped admitting new patients on Jan. 4. Admissions resumed Jan. 11.
Over the past two months, about 110 patients and 230 hospital employees have tested positive for Covid, according to updates from the hospital’s emergency operations center.
The hospital provides care for about 500 Oregonians with mental illnesses who are court-ordered to receive treatment.
No patients have required hospital care for Covid-related illnesses and none have died, Seligmann said.
But the outbreak has disrupted routines at the hospital, which was already facing staffing shortages and struggling to comply with court orders to admit patients for timely treatment.
Over the course of the outbreak, a total of 13 hospital units were temporarily converted to Covid units, Seligmann said. A unit houses about 20 patients.
Employees working on those units were required to wear a gown and gloves as well as an N-95 mask while working, and patients were kept in medical isolation.
That led to frustration from patients on affected units. On Jan. 17, several patients on the Bird 1 unit who had been quarantined for two weeks left their rooms to object after frustration about the isolation “bubbled up over the weekend,” Seligmann said. Several became threatening and one patient who punched a wall was taken to the emergency room for evaluation, though no other patients or employees were injured, Seligmann said.
Seligmann said the resumption of regular activities will be “staggered,” with Covid safety protocols that were in place before the omicron surge continuing. During the surge, treatment was restricted to individual units. Now, patients can again receive care in groups that include three hospital units. Fitness, art, music, cooking and leisure activities are also resuming.
Visits to patients remain on hold in Salem until Marion County records a lower share of Covid tests that are positive for the virus. That measure is a rough indicator of how widespread the virus is in the community. Seligmann said that percentage needs to drop to 8%; it is currently 15.3%.
Contact reporter Rachel Alexander: [email protected] or 503-575-1241.
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