Ocean County Health Officials Monitoring Coronavirus Warnings

TOMS RIVER, NJ — If you're concerned about the potential for the spread of coronavirus in Ocean County, the county health department has information and says the state has established a hotline to answer questions.

Ocean County Health Department officials have been monitoring information about the COVID-19 (Novel coronavirus) since January, staying in contact with both state and federal officials on developments in the spread of the illness.

On Wednesday, the Centers for Disease Control issued a warning that residents across the country need to prepare now for the spread of COVID-19 and the potential effects that could have on businesses, schools and communities.

Nancy Messonnier, the director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Disease, told reporters in a conference call the question is no longer if the coronavirus, now officially called COVID-19, will spread across the United States but when that will happen.

There have been no cases in New Jersey so far. But state officials say they're preparing for a spread of the disease across the region. Read more: NJ Preparing For Coronavirus Outbreak After Dire CDC Warning

Daniel Regenye, public health coordinator for the Ocean County Health Department, says the county has been monitoring 13 Ocean County residents who had returned to the United States after traveling to areas where the outbreak occurred. The 13 people were identified by federal authorities when they returned, he said.

The county's role has been being in communication with those residents, making sure they understood what signs and symptoms to look for of a coronavirus infection. None of the 13 has developed the illness as of Thursday. Nine have completely cleared the incubation window and the remaining four should be cleared no later than Sunday, he said.

"It's similar instructions to what we provided during the measles outbreaks last year," Regenye said, including calling ahead to a doctor's office or hospital before just showing up with symptoms.

"While there are still a lot of unknowns, it's believed to be less contagious than measles," he said. But precautions are still taken because there are so many unknowns.

For now, the health department is stressing common-sense steps to prevent the spread of illness, much like the ones to prevents the spread of the flu:

• Remember to wash your hands regularly.
• Cover coughs and sneezes with a tissue or sleeve, not your hands.
• Wash your hands often with soap and water. Use alcohol-based hand sanitizer if soap and water are not available.
• Stay home if you are sick and avoid sick people.
• Clean and disinfect regularly.
• Review and follow travel advisories from the Centers for Disease Control when planning travel. If you become ill after returning home to the United States, call your health care provider before going to a doctor’s office or emergency department of a hospital. They may want to place a mask on you before you enter the building to protect other people.

"Here in Ocean County we should all remain vigilant by taking the necessary precautions to prevent any further illness from spreading," Regenye said.

Globally, at least 80,000 people have been infected and 2,700 people have died from the new coronavirus, creating a global pandemic, according to the World Health Organization. It is spreading so quickly overseas that infectious disease experts and scientists warn there may be no way to contain it.

As of Tuesday, 57 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in the United States. Three dozen of the patients in the United States diagnosed with the disease are among passengers repatriated from the Diamond Princess cruise ship quarantined for weeks off the coast of Japan; three patients were infected in Wuhan, China, the center of the outbreak, and the others contracted the virus while traveling abroad.

For up-to-date information on the COVID-19, the county health department's webpage on the virus has a link that leads you to the state health department's page on the illness.

The state health department has a hotline available around the clock for questions; call 1-800-222-1222.

You can also find additional information on the CDC website.

With reporting by Tom Davis, Patch Staff

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