Loudoun Coronavirus Briefing To Update Officials On Preparations

LEESBURG, VA — The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors will receive a briefing next week on how the county is preparing and responding to the global coronavirus outbreak. The special board meeting will be held at 5 p.m. on March 11 at the Loudoun County Government Center.

Dr. David Goodfriend, Loudoun County's director of health, will brief the county board on the novel coronavirus and actions being taken in the county to control the coronavirus' impact in the community. The Loudoun County Health Department is working with regional, state and federal officials to address the virus. Some of these officials will be at the March 11 briefing, including representatives of Loudoun’s hospitals and Office of Emergency Management.

Loudoun County's Pandemic Response Plan calls for monitoring travelers, educating the public, collaborating with health care providers, and working with schools on appropriate protocols.

The new coronavirus, COVID-19, is a respiratory illness first identified in an outbreak in the city of Wuhan in China's Hubei province. Caused by a novel coronavirus, the respiratory illness can be spread from person to person. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), it is thought to be spread between people in close contact with another through droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes.

On Wednesday, Gov. Ralph Northam and Virginia officials detailed how the state is executing preparations for the coronavirus. Currently, there are no reported cases of COVID-19 in Virginia, although three potential cases of coronavirus are pending testing with the Virginia Department of Health.

"The Virginia Department of Health has some of the country's leading public health experts on its team, with deep experience guiding public health emergency responses, and I have great confidence in their ability to guide Virginia in this situation,"Northam said in a statement.

The Virginia Department of Health's coronavirus website identifies pending test results and people being monitored. Three test results are pending, which includes two in central Virginia and one in Northern Virginia. A total of 14 tests came back negative: five in the central region, two in the eastern region, five in the northern region and two in the southwest region.

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As of Wednesday, 106 people are under public health monitoring. Potential cases are being tested at Virginia's Division of Consolidated Laboratory Services, rather than at the CDC in Atlanta. Officials say this can produce faster responses, as test results can come in within a few hours.

Although the coronavirus is not spreading in Virginia and the risk is now classified as low, officials said Virginians can take precautions to prevent the potential spread of this disease:

• Avoid close contact with people who are sick.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands.
• Wash your hands often with soap and warm water for at least 20 seconds.
• Use alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains at least 60 percent alcohol if soap and water are unavailable.
• Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue, then throw the tissue in the trash.
• Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces.

The CDC does not recommend that people who are well wear a facemask to protect themselves from respiratory diseases, including COVID-19. Facemasks should be used by people who show symptoms of COVID-19 to help prevent the spread of the disease to others and by health workers, according to the CDC.

Members of the public can attend the March 11 Loudoun County board meeting, which starts at 5 p.m., or watch the briefing on Comcast Government TV Channel 23, Open Band Channel 40 and Verizon FiOS Channel 40, or online.

Loudoun County is starting an email and text subscription service through which regular updates will be published. Members of the public who are interested in receiving updates can sign up on the county's website.