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The US has reported its first few cases of possible “community spread” of the coronavirus — the patients didn’t travel to China or have any known contact with anyone who got sick.
Health officials are warning Americans to prepare for an outbreak.
“It’s not so much of a question of if this will happen anymore, but rather more of a question of exactly when this will happen,” Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said in a press briefing on Tuesday. “We are asking the American public to prepare for the expectation that this might be bad.”
If you think you’ve been exposed to the new coronavirus, the CDC and healthcare professionals have clear advice: Make a phone call before you head to the hospital.
“Stay at home and call your doctor,” Kim Leslie, an emergency-department nursing director at Swedish Hospital in Chicago, told Business Insider in early February. “If there’s no reason for you to seek emergency medical treatment, then stay at home and we will send you to the right place.”
On the phone, tell your doctor about any recent travels and contact you could have had with someone who got the coronavirus. The doctor may arrange safe transport to bring you to the hospital without exposing others to the virus.
“It does seem to be more communicable than our typical seasonal flu, and because of that it’s important to try to minimize other people’s exposure to somebody who may be infected with this novel coronavirus,” Richard Martinello, an associate professor of infectious disease at the Yale School of Medicine, told Business Insider earlier this month.
While you’re at home, the CDC has a few other recommendations if you think you have the virus:
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Separate yourself from other people and animals in your home. Use a separate bathroom if possible.
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Wear a face mask.
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Cover coughs and sneezes.
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Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds.
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Avoid sharing personal items like dishware, towels, or bedding.
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Clean surfaces like doorknobs, countertops, toilets, phones, and keyboards every day.
Call your doctor to determine whether you should visit a hospital
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When you call a doctor, the first thing they’ll want to know is where you’ve been and what your symptoms are. That basic information will help them determine whether you are actually at risk of the new coronavirus.
Patients have reported symptoms similar to those associated with pneumonia, such as fever, coughing, chills, and difficulty breathing. Some patients experience gastrointestinal symptoms first: nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea.
The virus can be transmitted between people through respiratory droplets such as saliva or mucus. It can be passed before a person shows symptoms.
If you have some of these symptoms and think you may have been exposed to the coronavirus, your doctor will likely order a blood test. They will also ask about the severity of your symptoms to determine whether you should visit the hospital.
Patients who raise red flags get an isolation room
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In late January, Leslie said, a man came into the emergency department at Swedish Hospital saying he was sick and had recently visited China. Those were red flags.
CDC guidelines point to two main criteria for potential cases of the new coronavirus. The first is travel to China, Iran, Italy, Japan, or South Korea — where the most severe outbreaks are — in the last two weeks. The second question is about symptoms: fever with respiratory issues like coughing or shortness of breath.
Of course, if a patient has had contact with someone confirmed to have the virus, then any symptom is a concern.
Now that community spread has begun, those guidelines also include any severe pneumonia-like condition that can’t be diagnosed as something else like flu.
Leslie’s staff gave the man a face mask and ushered him into a “negative airflow” chamber that does not allow air to escape the room.
Many private doctor’s offices do not have these negative-airflow rooms, however, so potential coronavirus patients would probably get a room in the back, as far as possible from other patients. That’s what Martinello said his office did with one patient. The man’s condition wasn’t serious enough to be hospitalized, so the staff sent him home with a warning to stay in the house and wait for his test results. The test came back negative.
P. Ravikumar/Reuters
When treating the Chicago patient in the negative-airflow chamber, medical workers wore protective gear, including gloves, gowns, eye protection like goggles or a face shield, and an N95 respirator mask to protect them from virus-carrying droplets.
Infection-control experts asked that patient more personal questions, Leslie said. Epidemiologists typically inquire about whether a potential coronavirus patient recently had sex with anyone (especially while traveling), which specific locations they visited, who they had contact with, and what they did in each place they went.
“After that scrutiny, [he] did not meet the criteria to be concerned. So we lessened his level of isolation, out of that room, and considered him just your basic average flu,” Leslie said.
Even if a patient is confirmed to have the coronavirus, there is no specific medication for it. So, much like the flu, doctors simply treat patients’ symptoms, ensure they get enough oxygen, and keep them hydrated.
This story has been updated with new information. It was originally published on February 5, 2020.
Read the original article on Business Insider