Post by Deleted on Feb 28, 2020 17:04:38 GMT -5
www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-02-28/intense-search-in-california-for-others-exposed-to-coronavirus-patient
Hunt intensifies in California for others exposed to coronavirus patient
DAVIS, Calif. — Health officials in Northern California are searching for people who might have come in contact with a woman who is believed to be the country’s first novel coronavirus patient who did not recently travel outside the U.S. or come in contact with someone who did.
Authorities said her case might indicate that the virus is already spreading within the local community, a significant leap, making it essential that they quickly find anyone who might have been exposed to her.
The Solano County woman was hospitalized more than a week ago but was not tested for several days because she did not fit screening criteria set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which include both symptoms of the virus and either a recent history of travel to China or close contact with another coronavirus patient.
In response, Solano County declared a local emergency Thursday because of the virus.
“We are taking this situation seriously and are taking steps necessary to protect the health and safety of Solano County residents,” Dr. Bela Matyas, the county’s health officer, said in a statement. “It is important to recognize that we have moved from containment to mitigation. We are investigating potential exposures and ensuring that proper evaluation and care are provided if they become sick.”
Before she was transferred to UC Davis, the woman was hospitalized for three days at NorthBay VacaValley Hospital in Vacaville, Aimee Brewer, president of NorthBay Healthcare Group, said in a statement.
She was taken by ambulance to the UC Davis facility in Sacramento once her condition worsened, Brewer said.
“As for the patient’s care in NorthBay VacaValley Hospital, at no time did the patient fit the existing CDC criteria for COVID-19, and therefore a test was not immediately administered,” she said.
After learning of the diagnosis, the hospital “launched a meticulous tracing” of anyone who might have been in contact with her, Brewer said. The hospital remains open and is operating normally.
UC Davis officials said the woman arrived on Feb. 19 but was not tested until Sunday. The hospital said that precautions had been put in place because of caregivers’ concerns about her condition and that a “small number” of employees had been asked to stay home and monitor their temperature.
Sacramento County Director of Health Services Peter Beileson said the woman had been transferred to the hospital under virus containment protocols, but additional measures, such as isolation in a negative pressure room, which prevents air from escaping, were now in place.
Beileson said he did not expect additional cases of the virus based on those in contact with the patient in Sacramento, where she is receiving treatment, but did expect more cases in Solano County, where she is from.
The woman was “in her community” for a number of days before accessing care, California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly said.
Investigators are now working to identify and locate anyone who may have come in contact with the woman. The CDC has sent 10 staffers to help trace her contacts. Some hospital workers who came in contact with her are now at home and being monitored.
Sacramento County health officials said that dozens of people might be quarantined at home based on having contact with the woman. UC Davis spokesman Steve Telliano disputed that the number could be higher than 70, but refused to say if more or fewer people were quarantined.
Three UC Davis students are under 14-day isolation as one awaits test results after showing mild coronavirus symptoms, officials said Thursday.
The students are roommates at Kearney Hall, UC Davis Chancellor Gary S. May said.
One student has been off campus since Tuesday and has been tested for COVID-19. The student is in isolation at their home, UC Davis spokeswoman Melissa Lutz Blouin said Friday.
The other two have not shown any symptoms and have therefore not been tested, but they have been isolated since Wednesday night as a precaution. They were moved to a vacant on-campus apartment and are in self-isolation for 14 days, the time symptoms would appear if they had a virus. Blouin said the university is providing those students with food and the apartment is equipped with a kitchen and bathroom.
Yolo County Health Officer Dr. Ron Chapman said officials know the source of the possible exposure for the student who might have the virus, but could not disclose that information because of privacy rules.
When the university first learned about the exposure, officials alerted all students, faculty and staff. Housing and dining services personnel also have increased cleaning rounds at those campus facilities, disinfecting doorknobs, tables and other areas with lots of student contact.
UC Davis is following the direction of the Yolo County Public Health Dept. in its response to the incident.
Just outside the Kearney Hall dorm at UC Davis, freshman Dominic Alvarez sat on a concrete bench casually texting friends on Friday. He was unfazed about reports of the students who were reportedly exposed to the coronavirus.
Alvarez said some students on campus are panicking unnecessarily, not realizing that the risk of getting the virus is very low.
“Me and friends, we’re not gullible. We know the situation is just people spreading rumors. It’s pretty dumb,” said Alvarez, a mechanical engineering student from Los Angeles. “We’re keeping up with the medical news. For young healthy adults with healthy immune systems, it’s just like the flu. Older people have to worry, and younger kids, though.”
Alvarez said he’s always been good about washing his hands often and covering his mouth and nose when he coughs and sneezes.
However, another student parking his bike outside the dorm was much more concerned. The student, who asked only to be identified by his nickname “Vac,” was wearing a protective mask over his mouth and nose and black medical gloves on his hands.
“I’m super worried. We’re in classes every day with other students who may have been exposed,” said Vac, 21, an environmental engineering student.
Students live all over the region, including in Solano County and Sacramento where there are people who have been diagnosed with or exposed to the virus.
“Students that go to restaurants in Sacramento and go to grocery stores in Solano County, it’s very likely that they could come back with the virus,” Vac said.
Vac is from northern China and has been in constant contact with his family. He says they are fine but that he, along with many other foreign students from all over Asia, are concerned for their loved ones.
“They’re hearing from families and friends who say it’s scary out there, because that’s exactly how it’s been in China and Japan for the past month,” he said.
He’s seen plenty of vitriolic racism against Asians on the internet since the outbreak of the virus, but Vac said he’s not experienced any sort of discrimination at UC Davis.
“We have a pretty strong Asian community on campus,” he said.
Kearney Hall sits in the middle of the sprawling UC Davis campus, just across the street from a stable of cows at a dairy research center. The four-story dorm is part of a cluster of student housing and surrounded by rack after rack of bicycles, a preferred mode of transportation among students and around Davis.
A total of 33 people have been diagnosed with coronavirus in California, and five have since left the state, Newsom said. Of the confirmed cases, 24 were either evacuated from the Diamond Princess cruise ship or returned on repatriation flights from Wuhan, China, which is the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak.
One repatriated patient was transferred by the CDC to San Mateo County, the county health department said Friday. The department said in a statement that no other details would be released.
Gov. Gavin Newsom said more than 8,400 people are being monitored in 49 local jurisdictions.
The state is “doing those protocols and monitoring as it relates to more traditional commercial flights that came in from points of concern and potential points of contact, particularly in Asia,” he said.
CALIFORNIA
Hunt intensifies in California for others exposed to coronavirus patient
DAVIS, Calif. — Health officials in Northern California are searching for people who might have come in contact with a woman who is believed to be the country’s first novel coronavirus patient who did not recently travel outside the U.S. or come in contact with someone who did.
Authorities said her case might indicate that the virus is already spreading within the local community, a significant leap, making it essential that they quickly find anyone who might have been exposed to her.
The Solano County woman was hospitalized more than a week ago but was not tested for several days because she did not fit screening criteria set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which include both symptoms of the virus and either a recent history of travel to China or close contact with another coronavirus patient.
In response, Solano County declared a local emergency Thursday because of the virus.
“We are taking this situation seriously and are taking steps necessary to protect the health and safety of Solano County residents,” Dr. Bela Matyas, the county’s health officer, said in a statement. “It is important to recognize that we have moved from containment to mitigation. We are investigating potential exposures and ensuring that proper evaluation and care are provided if they become sick.”
Before she was transferred to UC Davis, the woman was hospitalized for three days at NorthBay VacaValley Hospital in Vacaville, Aimee Brewer, president of NorthBay Healthcare Group, said in a statement.
She was taken by ambulance to the UC Davis facility in Sacramento once her condition worsened, Brewer said.
“As for the patient’s care in NorthBay VacaValley Hospital, at no time did the patient fit the existing CDC criteria for COVID-19, and therefore a test was not immediately administered,” she said.
After learning of the diagnosis, the hospital “launched a meticulous tracing” of anyone who might have been in contact with her, Brewer said. The hospital remains open and is operating normally.
UC Davis officials said the woman arrived on Feb. 19 but was not tested until Sunday. The hospital said that precautions had been put in place because of caregivers’ concerns about her condition and that a “small number” of employees had been asked to stay home and monitor their temperature.
Sacramento County Director of Health Services Peter Beileson said the woman had been transferred to the hospital under virus containment protocols, but additional measures, such as isolation in a negative pressure room, which prevents air from escaping, were now in place.
Beileson said he did not expect additional cases of the virus based on those in contact with the patient in Sacramento, where she is receiving treatment, but did expect more cases in Solano County, where she is from.
The woman was “in her community” for a number of days before accessing care, California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly said.
Investigators are now working to identify and locate anyone who may have come in contact with the woman. The CDC has sent 10 staffers to help trace her contacts. Some hospital workers who came in contact with her are now at home and being monitored.
Sacramento County health officials said that dozens of people might be quarantined at home based on having contact with the woman. UC Davis spokesman Steve Telliano disputed that the number could be higher than 70, but refused to say if more or fewer people were quarantined.
Three UC Davis students are under 14-day isolation as one awaits test results after showing mild coronavirus symptoms, officials said Thursday.
The students are roommates at Kearney Hall, UC Davis Chancellor Gary S. May said.
One student has been off campus since Tuesday and has been tested for COVID-19. The student is in isolation at their home, UC Davis spokeswoman Melissa Lutz Blouin said Friday.
The other two have not shown any symptoms and have therefore not been tested, but they have been isolated since Wednesday night as a precaution. They were moved to a vacant on-campus apartment and are in self-isolation for 14 days, the time symptoms would appear if they had a virus. Blouin said the university is providing those students with food and the apartment is equipped with a kitchen and bathroom.
Yolo County Health Officer Dr. Ron Chapman said officials know the source of the possible exposure for the student who might have the virus, but could not disclose that information because of privacy rules.
When the university first learned about the exposure, officials alerted all students, faculty and staff. Housing and dining services personnel also have increased cleaning rounds at those campus facilities, disinfecting doorknobs, tables and other areas with lots of student contact.
UC Davis is following the direction of the Yolo County Public Health Dept. in its response to the incident.
Just outside the Kearney Hall dorm at UC Davis, freshman Dominic Alvarez sat on a concrete bench casually texting friends on Friday. He was unfazed about reports of the students who were reportedly exposed to the coronavirus.
Alvarez said some students on campus are panicking unnecessarily, not realizing that the risk of getting the virus is very low.
“Me and friends, we’re not gullible. We know the situation is just people spreading rumors. It’s pretty dumb,” said Alvarez, a mechanical engineering student from Los Angeles. “We’re keeping up with the medical news. For young healthy adults with healthy immune systems, it’s just like the flu. Older people have to worry, and younger kids, though.”
Alvarez said he’s always been good about washing his hands often and covering his mouth and nose when he coughs and sneezes.
However, another student parking his bike outside the dorm was much more concerned. The student, who asked only to be identified by his nickname “Vac,” was wearing a protective mask over his mouth and nose and black medical gloves on his hands.
“I’m super worried. We’re in classes every day with other students who may have been exposed,” said Vac, 21, an environmental engineering student.
Students live all over the region, including in Solano County and Sacramento where there are people who have been diagnosed with or exposed to the virus.
“Students that go to restaurants in Sacramento and go to grocery stores in Solano County, it’s very likely that they could come back with the virus,” Vac said.
Vac is from northern China and has been in constant contact with his family. He says they are fine but that he, along with many other foreign students from all over Asia, are concerned for their loved ones.
“They’re hearing from families and friends who say it’s scary out there, because that’s exactly how it’s been in China and Japan for the past month,” he said.
He’s seen plenty of vitriolic racism against Asians on the internet since the outbreak of the virus, but Vac said he’s not experienced any sort of discrimination at UC Davis.
“We have a pretty strong Asian community on campus,” he said.
Kearney Hall sits in the middle of the sprawling UC Davis campus, just across the street from a stable of cows at a dairy research center. The four-story dorm is part of a cluster of student housing and surrounded by rack after rack of bicycles, a preferred mode of transportation among students and around Davis.
A total of 33 people have been diagnosed with coronavirus in California, and five have since left the state, Newsom said. Of the confirmed cases, 24 were either evacuated from the Diamond Princess cruise ship or returned on repatriation flights from Wuhan, China, which is the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak.
One repatriated patient was transferred by the CDC to San Mateo County, the county health department said Friday. The department said in a statement that no other details would be released.
Gov. Gavin Newsom said more than 8,400 people are being monitored in 49 local jurisdictions.
The state is “doing those protocols and monitoring as it relates to more traditional commercial flights that came in from points of concern and potential points of contact, particularly in Asia,” he said.
CALIFORNIA