A COVID-19 summer surge is happening throughout the country right now and Houston Methodist is seeing an increase in testing and positive tests from our EDs and urgent care centers. While the spread is moderate in Texas and hospitalizations for COVID-19 remain low, we are seeing a concerning uptick in employees absent because of COVID infections across the system.
Please consider taking a home COVID test if you are symptomatic, as we must do what we can to keep our patients and our coworkers safe. As a reminder, here’s our policy for you to refer to if you test positive. There is no need for employees with symptoms or who test positive for COVID-19 to contact Employee Health, and we are no longer scheduling COVID-19 tests for employees.
As we experience this summer surge, please remember to practice excellent hand hygiene, and continue wearing masks when caring for patients with respiratory illnesses. This new strain of COVID, variant KP.3, is derived from JN.1, which was the dominant variant this past winter. It is not expected to cause more severe illness and is commonly causing headaches and respiratory issues similar to allergies.
Thank you for your continued dedication to our patients.
Roberta L. Schwartz
Executive Vice President
Chief Innovation Officer
Houston Methodist Hospital
NOTE: This email was sent to all Houston Methodist employees and physicians.
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