(MOUNT VERNON, N.Y. / The Journal) — While the Westchester County Health Department still says they've got everything under control in terms of the novel coronavirus outbreak, the home town of the San Francisco 49ers, who are playing in Super Bowl LIV in Miami against the Kansas City Chiefs, has been hit with the nation's seventh case of the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV). According to the Santa Clara County Public Health Department, "an adult male resident of the county" tested positive for 2019-nCoV. He recently came back from Wuhan, China, and got sick when he returned to the United States. "He was seen at a local clinic and hospital, but was never was sick enough to require hospitalization." This has been seen where those infected are asymptomatic and don't show signs of the virus such as coughs, fevers, or difficulty breathing but those signs show up about three to five days after. The first human-to-human transmission of 2019-nCoV in the United States was proven by this just a few days ago in Chicago.
However, this novel coronavirus is not the only type of coronavirus. The word "novel" only means that something's new. There's been many more coronaviruses and strains of coronaviruses out there, but most of those strains are regular — it's estimated that everyone will have been sickened by a common strain of coronavirus at least once in their life. But, China's most recent outbreak of SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) in 2003 was caused by a coronavirus and the MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome) outbreak of 2012 happened for the same exact reason. Thankfully, in our local area so far, we do not have to go into extreme extra ultra severe panic worry mode. Just be careful on a few sniffles and a fever, because it's also still flu season. According to News 12 Westchester and the Hudson Valley Post, a student at New Rochelle's Albert Leonard Middle School tested positive for N-L 63, a common strain of coronavirus that is not related to the current one out of Wuhan.
"We ask parents of any children who are feeling severe cold or flu-like symptoms to please keep your children home until they feel better. In an abundance of caution, this evening we are cleaning and disinfecting surfaces within the school."
— Dr. Laura Feijoo, superintendent of the City School District of New Rochelle
This comes as the Director-General, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, of the World Health Organization, a United Nations agency, has noted the Wuhan novel coronavirus outbreak as a Global Health Emergency (or according to them, a PHEIC, or Public Health Emergency of International Concern) while here in the United States, the Department of Health and Human Services has called it a Public Health Emergency and the State Department has issued a Level 4 Do Not Travel advisory for China. However, just like in Santa Clara, California, and here at home, "the risk to the general public remains low".
Please follow The Journal for updates on the coronavirus outbreak here in the United States and across the world. We're also on Twitter @TheJournal_MVSA.
Comments