Officials confirm first U.S. case of China coronavirus in Seattle
Credit to Author: Tiffany Crawford| Date: Tue, 21 Jan 2020 22:18:37 +0000
A new coronavirus that has caused the deaths of at least six people in China has been detected just south of the border.
A traveller from China has been diagnosed near Seattle with the Wuhan coronavirus, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday. The virus has been compared with SARS by health authorities and causes respiratory illnesses like pneumonia.
The Seattle Times reported that the patient is a Snohomish County man in his 30s who recently had travelled to Wuhan, China. The man was apparently free from symptoms when he arrived at Seattle-Tacoma airport last Wednesday but contacted doctors Sunday when he started experiencing flu-like symptoms. He was hospitalized and tested positive for the coronavirus Monday.
The Times said the man is listed in good condition at the Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett, Wash., and isn’t considered a threat to medical staff or the public.
The news comes as health officials in Canada begin stepping up public awareness and screening at Canadian hospitals and airports, including the Vancouver airport.
Messaging will appear on arrivals screens at the Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver airports reminding travellers from Wuhan to tell a border-service officer if they have flu-like symptoms. A health-screening question will also be added to electronic kiosks.
On Tuesday, Zoe Weber, a spokeswoman for YVR, said they’re receiving a high volume of inquiries about the coronavirus, and noted they continue to work with the Public Health Agency of Canada for decisions about health-related screening of passengers at Canada’s airports, including implanting the message and health questions at kiosks.
U.S. health officials began screening passengers from central China at U.S. airports in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco, but not at Sea-Tac.
On Tuesday, the Center for Disease Control said it will expand screening for the virus to the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta and O’Hare International Airport in Chicago.
Dr. Stephen Hoption Cann, a clinical professor at UBC’s School of Population & Public Health, says the Washington State case should have officials questioning the number of airports set up for screening.
“A more important concern is with the Chinese New Year coming up this weekend. That’s a really important time with a lot people travelling to visit relatives within China and throughout the world,” Hoption Cann said. “We just really hope we can contain that infections because it’s a busy time with people coming to and from China.”
As per the direction of the @GovCanHealth, YVR is implementing messaging on arrivals screens and adding a health screening question to electronic kiosks. Passengers will be reminded to inform a border service officer if they are feeling sick.
There have been no confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Canada, although three people who had travelled to Wuhan were investigated as possibly having contracted the virus, and were ruled out of contracting the virus within the past week.
The newly identified coronavirus originated in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, and has spread to Beijing and Shanghai. More than 300 people have been infected so far and six have died, according to Chinese health officials.
Most cases have been linked to a market in Wuhan that sold live animals, but there has been limited person-to-person spread. It’s believed that two people in Guangdong province caught the virus from family members, and some health-care workers have also become ill.
Hoption Cann says Wuhan coronavirus, at this point, shouldn’t scare someone from visiting China.
“At this stage there is probably not too many concerns about taking precautions. It seems to be coming from Wuhan and, as far as we know, there are not too many cases, so it’s unlikely that somebody just travelling to China would be exposed to (the virus),” he said. “But if you are visiting relatives and you know someone who has got a respiratory illness, you may want to delay that visit or be very careful about visiting that individual. Wash your hands, wear a mask … that sort of thing.”
South Korea detected its first case over the weekend after the spread of the virus to Japan and Thailand last week.
The World Health Organization, which will meet Wednesday to discuss whether this is an outbreak, said last week that it expected cases to be identified in other countries.
BREAKING: WHO Director-General @DrTedros will convene an Emergency Committee on the novel #coronavirus (2019-nCoV) under the International Health Regulations.
The Committee will meet on Wednesday, 22 January 2020. pic.twitter.com/w3w7ZuoTeG
— With files from Jennifer Saltman and Reuters