The Baystate Health system has, to date, tested 235 people for COVID-19, also known as the coronavirus. Among them, six people tested positive, 104 tested negative and 125 tests were still pending as of Thursday morning.
Baystate has three hospitals: Baystate Franklin Medical Center in Greenfield; Baystate Medical Center in Springfield; and Baystate Noble Hospital in Westfield.
Earlier this week, a Baystate Health spokesperson said the hospital first tests people presenting with symptoms for the flu and other viruses, then tests for COVID-19. It takes three to five days to get the COVID-19 results.
Baystate Franklin Medical Center in Greenfield has been keeping people who are tested and presenting with symptoms in a special wing. Then, if a test comes back positive, that person is transferred to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, which has set up a triage unit outside of its emergency room. People who test positive are being isolated in a special wing.
Hospital officials have said depending on how sick people are, they either stay in the hospital or go home and self-quarantine to recover.
Approximately 200 of Baystate Health’s 12,000 employees are now out of work on quarantine because they either had a respiratory illness or had a possible exposure to the virus, President and CEO Mark Keroack said Wednesday.
“All of this will be made much better if we had readily available, quick-turnaround testing as well as more plentiful supplies to protect our employees,” Keroack said.
Gov. Charlie Baker said this week that there will be more suspected cases in Massachusetts because more tests are being done. However, it doesn’t mean people have the disease.
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health is continually updating its website with the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the state. Of the 328 confirmed cases reported throughout the state as of Thursday at 4 p.m., only 1 is in Franklin County.
Reach Anita Fritz at
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