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More than 100 employees at Boston-area hospitals have tested positive for the coronavirus, Fox News has learned.
The employees who tested positive work at three hospitals.
Brigham and Women’s Hospital had 45 staff members test positive for COVID-19; Massachusetts General Hospital had 41, and 15 workers at the Boston Medical Center also contracted the virus.
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The employees at Brigham and Women’s Hospital have not returned to work since testing positive, a spokeswoman told Fox News. Calls and messages to the Boston Medical Center were not immediately returned.
Officials at Massachusetts General told Fox News they believe the infected employees did not contract the virus at work. Due to “the extent of community spread now ongoing in Massachusetts, it is believed that the vast majority of these individuals did not contract the virus at work,” said hospital spokeswoman Terri Janos.
The numbers come as coronavirus cases continue to increase daily across the country. Statewide, Massachusetts has more than 1,800 cases.
Hospital workers are especially susceptible because of the nature of their work amid a shortage of protective gear such as masks and gloves.
Many states are calling for retired medical workers to serve to expand the number of health care professionals. Massachusetts Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders has asked the deans of four medical schools to advance the graduation of four-year medical students to increase the workforce to combat the pandemic.
The Boston University Medical School will graduate its class in Apil, according to a letter from the school to medical students.
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“After discussions with our universities, all four Massachusetts medical schools have agreed to graduate our 2020 class in April,” the letter reads. “Your class is clearly graduating at one of the most medically challenging times of the last century, and will shortly be an important part of our country’s response to the COVID-19 challenge.”
Fox News’ Rob DiRienzo contributed to this report.
