Sarasota Doctor In Self-Quarantine After Treating Coronavirus Patient

WUSF | By Kerry Sheridan

Published March 4, 2020 at 8:43 PM EST

A Manatee County man in his 60s tested positive for coronavirus infection over the weekend.

A prominent Sarasota infectious disease doctor has placed himself in self-quarantine at home after he treated a Manatee County man with coronavirus last week, officials said Wednesday.

Dr. Manuel Gordillo evaluated the man last Thursday at Doctors Hospital of Sarasota, one of several hospitals in the area where he provides consultations, a spokeswoman for Sarasota Memorial Hospital said.

Gordillo serves as medical director for Sarasota Memorial’s Infection Prevention and Control team. He has been isolating himself at home since the patient tested positive for COVID-19 over the weekend.

“Dr. Gordillo received official notice of his quarantine status from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Tuesday (March 3), but has been self-quarantined as a precaution since receiving news last weekend that the patient’s preliminary test came back positive. It was confirmed Monday by the CDC,” said the statement from spokeswoman Kim Savage.

“He has no symptoms and said there is no risk to others that he may have come into contact with on Friday or Saturday.”

The doctor will remain in self-quarantine through March 12, which is the duration of the virus’ incubation period, Savage added.

Dr. Manuel Gordillo has no symptoms, and is in self-isolation until March 12 as a precaution.

Until then, he plans to continue working from home.

Gordillo is “among the healthcare providers who are self-quarantined at home following a positive case of COVID-19 at Doctors Hospital last week,” added the statement from Savage.

Asked for further comment, she said she did not know how many other health providers are in self-quarantine after coming in contact with the Manatee County resident, who is in his 60s and had no apparent history of travel.

It’s unclear how the man contracted the novel coronavirus. The Florida Department of Health has not responded to WUSF’s requests for comment.

According to the Sarasota Military Academy, one parent who encountered the patient in her professional capacity at Doctors Hospital is in self-quarantine, along with her son, a student at the academy.

Sarasota Memorial Hospital sent out about a dozen tests for coronavirus infection, or COVID-19, this week, to a lab in Tampa. Savage said the results should be in by Thursday.