Two cases of Wuhan coronavirus confirmed in Southern California
–Orange County Register reports–
Two cases of coronavirus were confirmed in Southern California, one each in Los Angeles and Orange counties, bringing to five the number of cases across the U.S., health officials said Sunday, Jan. 26.
All of the patients were people who traveled to the Chinese city of Wuhan, identified as the center of the outbreak. The U.S. patients generally have been reported to be in good condition and were hospitalized in isolation for monitoring.
The Orange County patient, identified as a man in his 50s, continued in good condition Sunday while being treated in isolation at an undisclosed hospital, said Dr. Nichole Quick, the Orange County Health Officer. She said he was “a traveler from Wuhan who is currently staying in Orange County.”
Quick’s agency, along with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the California Department of Public Health, were investigating contacts with the patient. “We do believe at this time that there are limited number of contacts to follow up,” she said by phone Sunday.
The patient had visited a medical facility with symptoms that prompted a test for the coronavirus, Quick said. The CDC on Saturday had confirmed the Orange County patient had the virus.
Her agency said the current risk of local transmission from the patient “remains low,” and there was no evidence of person-to-person transmission in Orange County.
Read the full story in the Orange County Register
CDC: What to expect next
More cases are likely to be identified in the coming days, including more cases in the United States, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. Given what has occurred previously with MERS and SARS, it’s likely that person-to-person spread will continue to occur. It would not be surprising if person-to-person spread in the United States were to occur. Cases in healthcare settings, like hospitals, may also occur.
CDC Response
- CDC is closely monitoring this situation and is working with WHO.
- CDC established a 2019-nCoV Incident Management Structure on January 7, 2020. On January 21, 2020, CDC activated its Emergency Response System to better provide ongoing support to the 2019-nCoV response.
- On January 23, 2020, CDC again raised its travel alert for the coronavirus outbreak. The travel notice for Wuhan City was raised from Level 2: Practice Enhanced Precautions to Level 3: Avoid Nonessential Travel. CDC also issued a Level 1: Practice Usual Precautions for the rest of China.
- CDC also is conducting entry screening of passengers on direct and connecting flights from Wuhan, China to five major airports: Atlanta (ATL), Chicago (ORD), Los Angeles, (LAX) New York city (JFK), and San Francisco (SFO).
- CDC issued an updated interim Health Alert Notice (HAN) Advisory to inform state and local health departments and health care providers about this outbreak on January 17, 2020.
- CDC teams have been deployed to support the ongoing investigation in Washington and Illinois to support the ongoing investigations of the two cases in the United States.
- CDC has developed a real time Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction (rRT-PCR) test that can diagnose 2019-nCoV in respiratory and serum samples from clinical specimens. On January 24, 2020, CDC publicly posted the assay protocol for this test. Currently, testing for this virus must take place at CDC, but in the coming days and weeks, CDC will share these tests with domestic and international partners through the agency’s International Reagent Resourceexternal icon.
- CDC uploaded the entire genome of the virus from the first reported case in the United States to GenBank.
- CDC also is growing the virus in cell culture, which is necessary for further studies, including for additional genetic characterization.
CDC Recommends
While the immediate risk of this new virus to the American public is believed to be low at this time, everyone can do their part to help us respond to this emerging public health threat:
- For everyone: It’s currently flu and respiratory disease season and CDC recommends getting vaccinated, taking everyday preventive actions to stop the spread of germs, and taking flu antivirals if prescribed.
- For healthcare professionals:
- Be on the look-out for people with travel history to Wuhan, China and fever and respiratory symptoms.
- If you are a healthcare professional caring a 2109-nCoV patient, please take care of yourself and follow recommended infection control procedures.
- For people who may have 2019-nCoV infection: Please follow CDC guidance on how to reduce the risk of spreading your illness to others.
- For travelers: Stay up to date with CDC’s travel health notices related to this outbreak.
Global news update on the coronavirus
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