(MOUNT VERNON, NY / The Journal) — As the first U.S. case of the emerging novel coronavirus, temporarily named 2019-nCoV by the World Health Organization (WHO), has been confirmed in Washington State, the Westchester County Department of Health (WCDoH) has published a press release earlier today on its preparations if and when travelers from Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China who are infected with 2019-nCoV arrive in the County.
They note that they are working with the New York State Department of Health (NYSDoH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (the CDC) to "to learn more about this virus, is sharing information with local medical providers and has created a web page on coronavirus for the public" as well as "coordinate any local response" to the outbreak spreading to Westchester County.
WHO has noted that they were alerted on New Year's Eve to "several cases of pneumonia" in Wuhan and that "the virus did not match any other virus". According to them, "when a virus is new, we do not know how it affects people".
According to WCDoH, as well as WHO, a coronavirus is "a large family of viruses that are known to cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)" and that a novel coronavirus is a "new strain of coronavirus that has not been previously identified in humans". The CDC has also noted that the outbreak "reportedly had some link to a large seafood and animal market" while Vox went further to say that local health officials in Wuhan have said "patients with the virus were 'mainly business staff and purchasers' at the market". NPR has released a map of the currently confirmed cases of 2019-nCoV, which in addition to the China, have spread to five other countries in Asia. Thailand tops the list with four confirmed cases, while the four other countries, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, and South Korea, each have one case.
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