City of Eagle Pass, Texas Gets Second Confirmed Positive COVID-19 Person, A Local Physician
By: Ricardo E. Calderon, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc., Copyright 2020
Eagle Pass pediatrician Dr. Jorge Olaya of Elite Pediatrics, 137 Zamora Circle, Eagle Pass, Texas posted on his Facebook Page that he has tested positive for COVID-19 and was just notified on Tuesday, March 31, 2020 of his positive result.
Dr. Olaya stated that he “decided to test himself out of an abundance of caution based on his constant exposure to sick patients with potential COVID-19 like symptoms.” He chose to test himself “in order to minimize the spread of this potentially devastating illness.” Dr. Olaya and all individuals in his household do not have any symptoms of COVID-19, which happens to some individuals with COVID-19.
Dr. Olaya noted that “COVID-19 can still spread even if you are not showing any signs or symptoms, which is why we URGE individuals to abide by the Stay Orders put in place by the local and state government.”
Dr. Olaya added that “upon learning the diagnosis, we immediately notified public health authorities and consulted with epidemiology and infection prevention experts. In coordination with the Eagle Pass Department of Public Health, we have been tracing the potential exposure to patients, physicians and staff, based on the timeline of this incident, and in consultation with these experts, we have been assessing risk to each person potentially exposed based on their unique circumstances.”
Dr. Olaya stated that “we are doing all we can to protect our patients and our staff members against COVID-19. Elite Pediatrics is following Centers for Disease Control and Prevention best practices for preventing the spread of the virus and this exposure was not due to a breach of protocol.”
In light of the positive test diagnosis, Dr. Olaya announced that he is temporarily closing Elite Pediatrics from March 31, 2020 to April 15, 2020 and that his office is tracing and calling all patients seen by him from March 17th through March 30th so that they may be screened and tested for COVID-19. However, Elite Pediatrics will be available by Facebook messenger for scheduling requests or in the event any patient needs to refill a prescription by contacting Amanda and she will notify Dr. Olaya.
The City of Eagle Pass and Maverick County received notification on March 23, 2020 that the first confirmed positive COVID-19 individual in the community was reported by the Texas Department of State Health Services as being through community spread.
Healthcare providers, physicians, first responders, and staff are commonly being exposed to the lethal COVID-19 virus due to their nature of work and close contact with people suspected of having or afflicted with COVID-19.
Shortly after Dr. Olaya posted his positive test result on his Facebook, Eagle Pass Mayor Luis E. Sifuentes and County Judge David R. Saucedo held a quick press conference at City Hall to update the community concerning the confirmation of Dr. Olaya’s positive COVID-19 test result and to urge local residents to please stay at home and practice social distancing while complying with both the City and County Declarations of Disaster Public Health Emergencies and the restrictions ordered therein.
UPDATE: On Wednesday, April 1, 2020, Dr. Jorge Olaya wrote a post on the Elite Pediatrics Facebook page detailing how he may have contracted COVID-19. His statement is as follows:
” Good afternoon,
I have recently found a need to further clarify the events that led to my positive COVID-19 test in order to appease some detractors and answer questions the public might have regarding my actions. It seems that in a crisis as severe and profound as the one that is currently affecting our nation as a whole, people would have realized by now that our common enemy is this virus and not each other. But unfortunately, that does not seem to be the case.
I feel the need to provide a clear timeline of events in order to promote transparency and to illustrate the thought process involved and rationale that eventually and unfortunately led me to test positive for this virus.
1. Since early February our clinic has been closely monitoring the spread of COVID-19 around the globe and specially within our country. In that sense we have been considering and following all precautions and guidelines recommended by the CDC and local authorities at the Texas Department of State Health Services. At the end of February, I became ill with Influenza like symptoms despite receiving my recommended yearly Influenza vaccine like all healthcare providers and general public should. On 2/18 after feeling initial symptoms I canceled the rest of my clinic in order to avoid exposure to my patients. I stayed away from work and returned as per guidelines after feeling well and remaining afebrile for at least 24 hours. I tested positive for Influenza B and my family was placed on PO prophylaxis with Tamiflu. I had a speedy recovery and a positive Influenza test explained all of my symptoms. At this time, I did not have COVID-19 nor did I or anybody else suspect a Coronavirus infection. Community transmission of COVID 19 in south Texas was not an important factor at that point in time.
2. I have been helping out to cover call in the Newborn Nursery of another facility in North Central Texas during the month of March. On 3/15 at 3am approximately I was exposed to a patient in that facility which was highly suspicious of a COVID-19 infection. This patient was tested and results would not be available immediately with a prolonged turnaround time. At that time, and even to this date, to my knowledge there are no recommendations for an asymptomatic health care professional to stop working and self-isolate after a potential low risk unconfirmed COVID-19 exposure. This is reasonable as COVID-19 symptoms are also possible with Influenza and other serious viral and bacterial infections. I contacted the Infection Control Department of that institution with a promise that they would relay test results on this patient to me as soon as available. No healthcare workers that came into contact with the patient at this facility were isolated or tested. I returned to Eagle Pass to continue work in my clinic normally.
3. On 3/18 I became anxious about this exposure as my elderly mother was in town visiting from Colombia. My wife is also in a relatively immunosuppressed state and at high risk for infections. In addition I also became concerned about exposing my patients so I decided to test myself in my clinic as I had been told that I did not meet current PUI criteria and would not be tested by TDSHS or any other clinic or hospital. Knowing that asymptomatic infection is possible and is likely one of the main drivers of community spread and transmission I took it upon myself as a personal responsibility to my family, my community and my patients to know if any of my recent exposures had resulted in an infection. I truly believe that we are not testing enough patients in order to mitigate this pandemic effectively. Early that same week a day after my test had already been done I received a call from my moonlighting facility informing me that the patient with possible COVID-19 symptoms had tested NEGATIVE and no further action was necessary. I was no longer concerned and since I had remained asymptomatic we continued to see patients in both the clinic and the hospital as usual. Our clinic continued to follow up the results of our test until it was finally resulted on 3/31 with a positive result for COVID-19. Immediately after becoming aware of results we closed the clinic and contacted all the pertinent authorities and parties involved.
I would finally like to add the following facts to this public communication. Elite Pediatrics PLLC has been at the forefront and has been the most innovative medical practice in Eagle Pass since its conception.
• We have always put our patient’s safety and comfort above all other aspects of our day to day practice.
• We were the first medical practice in town to adopt social distancing and very early on we modified our schedule and office flow in order to minimize exposure to our patients and our staff.
• We have repeatedly instructed patients to stay at home and self-quarantine as needed.
• We secured PPE (Personal Protection Equipment) early on and have been using it for every patient interaction in order to protect myself, my staff, and my patients. Thanks to the effective utilization of PPE within our clinic and at the hospital, every infectious disease expert and epidemiologist that we have talked to has stated that this will likely minimize any exposure of children within our clinic to a minimum.
• The 3M respirators that we have been using in the clinic minimize aerosolized particles and droplets that would have been hazardous otherwise from the provider.
• We have also adopted Telemedicine encounters very early on to still satisfy the need of our patients for remote care.
We have followed all recommendations from the Texas Medical Association on minimizing in-office pathogen exposure and have adopted all measures that the majority of larger tertiary care center affiliated pediatric clinics have adopted nationwide to curb this pandemic. In peril to our own financial well-being we have limited office visits to the point that there is minimal traffic through or office except for exceptional cases such as vaccines and extremely urgent sick visits. There is no doubt in my mind that our patient’s safety has always and will always come first in our practice. We are at war with this invisible enemy.
Three positive tests so far in our community does not take away from the fact that there are very likely hundreds or even thousands of fellow citizens of Eagle Pass and Del Rio which have already become infected with this virus and are out in the community working, shopping, and going about their business spreading the virus to someone else without knowing and to no fault of their own either because they are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms. Elite Pediatrics PLLC urges every citizen with non-essential jobs to shelter at home and adhere to all local, state and federal recommendations on social distancing and flattening our epidemiological curve.
**Be safe and we will see you when we reopen.** “
