DETROIT, MI — More than 600 employees at Henry Ford Health System, which has hospital locations throughout southeast Michigan, have tested positive for the new coronavirus, the hospital system’s chief clinical officer said Monday.
Dr. Adnan Munkarah told reporters during a video conference call that “between 600 and 700” Henry Ford employees have tested positive for the novel coronavirus. The figure represents just under 2% of the hospital system’s 31,600 employees. More workers likely have the virus, but have not been tested.
“If we are to test the whole population, you are going to see large numbers of people who are testing positive,” Munkarah said. “Testing positive is just a measure of how contagious this virus is.”
The Detroit News on Monday reported that between 600 and 700 workers have tested positive for the virus since the hospital began tracking employees with the coronavirus in mid-March.
Henry Ford officials declined to say how many of the hospital system’s employees have died of COVID-19, citing employee privacy. As Bridge magazine and the Detroit Free Press reported last week, at least one of the system’s nurses has died.
Henry Ford is among several metro Detroit hospitals to experience a surge in COVID-19 patients as the virus continues to spread in Michigan, pushing them to the brink of capacity.
