Coronavirus Alert: What VA Health-Care Workers Need To Know

RICHMOND, VA — The Virginia Department of Health this week urged health-care workers to be alert to signs of the novel coronavirus infection. Two cases of the illness have been confirmed, and several possible case are being investigated.

Health officials say the risk of the coronavirus appearing in Virginia is low, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has shared precautions that doctors and facilities should follow.

The outbreak emerged in Wuhan, China in December 2019 and now globally includes more than 500 cases and 17 deaths. Two U.S. cases have been confirmed in Chicago and Washington state.

Closer to home, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services is investigating a possible case of coronavirus infection in the state, the department confirmed Friday. The patient had mild respiratory symptoms and is currently in good condition and in isolation at Duke University Hospital. Officials said the patient recently passed through Wuhan, China, before returning to North Carolina via Raleigh-Durham International Airport Jan. 23.

According to the CDC, coronaviruses are part of a large family of viruses that cause illnesses both in humans and animals. In rare cases, animal coronaviruses can evolve to infect people. The new virus is officially referred to as "2019 novel coronavirus" or "2019-nCoV."

Clinicians in Virginia who see a patient who shows signs of the coronavirus should Obtain a detailed travel history for patients with fever and acute respiratory illness.

If a patient meets the criteria of a patient under investigation in association with the outbreak of the coronavirus:

• Ask the patient to wear a surgical mask.
• Evaluate the patient in a private room with the door closed, ideally in an airborne infection
• isolation room if available.
• Use standard, contact and airborne precautions, and eye protection (e.g., goggles or face
• shield).
• Immediately notify infection control personnel and your local health department.

Patients with confirmed coronavirus infection have reportedly had mild to severe respiratory illness with symptoms of fever, cough and shortness of breath. The CDC believes that symptoms of nCoV may appear in as few as two days or as long as two weeks after exposure, the release said.

At this time, only the CDC laboratories in Atlanta have the capabilities to test for the coronavirus, though it is expected that state public health laboratories will be able to test soon.

Researchers around the globe are still determining precisely how the virus spreads. Many patients in the Wuhan outbreak had visited a large seafood and animal market, but a growing number of patients have no connection.

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