Despite having 165 cases of the Wuhan coronavirus under investigation in the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that the risk from the virus remains low.
In Washington, only one case of the novel coronavirus remains confirmed, with the patient in satisfactory condition at Providence Health Care in Everett, according to officials.
Currently, 67 close contacts of the patient are actively being monitored by local public health officials, who are looking for signs of fever, cough, or any other symptoms of the coronavirus infection.
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Gov. Jay Inslee mentioned during a briefing that the coronavirus issue remains serious and that King County is “all hands on deck” when it comes to dealing with and preventing the spread of infection. “We want to get ahead of this virus. If you are going to stop a pandemic, you’ve got to get ahead of it. We can’t chase it and always be a week behind. What we have done is marshal the resources so we can bring them to bear.”
Statewide, 16 people have been tested for coronavirus. Seven of the cases tested negative, eight are still pending, while one has tested positive.
“Since the virus can cause severe illness and outbreak as seen in China, we have expanded our response to the situation so that we are absolutely prepared should we have more cases of novel coronavirus in Washington,” said Wiesman during yesterday’s coronavirus briefing.
Globally, over 8,000 people have been infected and six people have died. The new virus is in the same family as the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) virus that spread around the world in 2003.
The Center for Disease Control reports that Chinese officials have confirmed that the new coronavirus can be transmitted between people (as opposed to just animals to humans), but it’s not clear if it’s as deadly as the SARS virus.
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