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  • 2021-01-04 (xsd:date)
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  • Was an Inflatable Costume Responsible for Spreading COVID at Hospital? (en)
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  • As COVID-19 continued to spread in late 2020 and early 2021, a hospital in California became the source of an outbreak rumor involving an inflatable costume. An employee briefly visited the emergency department at Kaiser Permanente San Jose Medical Center on Christmas Day in an inflatable Christmas tree costume, hoping to spread some holiday cheer. But a few days later, 44 staff members tested positive for COVID-19 — one of whom died from the virus. The hospital began investigating the reasons for the outbreak and reported that a likely cause for the spread could have been the inflatable costume, though this is not definitive. Experts suggested that the air-powered Christmas costume had a fan that may have blown coronavirus-laden droplets throughout the department. The battery-powered fan would have blown air through the costume to help it to keep its shape. The employee wearing the costume had reportedly strolled through the emergency department. It is not immediately known if that employee later tested positive for COVID-19, though in a statement below the hospital said the individual had no COVID-19 symptoms. Irene Chavez, the hospital’s senior vice president, said: Chavez added, We will no longer allow air-powered costumes at our facilities. Even if the costume was not to blame, experts said that the virus was definitely transmitted through the air given the large number of people infected. The hospital is, however, still investigating the virus' spread, using contact tracing to inform employees and patients who may have been exposed, deep cleaning the emergency department, and testing staff in that department. An anonymous employee speaking to NBC News said there was a real fear of an outbreak among the patient population after the incident. It is not known yet how many patients may have been exposed to, or tested positive from, the virus as a result of this spread. Given that the inflatable costume was a likely but not definitive source of the spread in the hospital, we therefore rate this claim a Mixture. (en)
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