U.S. hospitals advised to prepare for Wuhan coronavirus
U.S. HOSPITALS ARE WARNED to prepare financially and operationally to contend with a potentially deadly outbreak of the Wuhan virus that at deadline had killed 20 people and sickened hundreds more in China.
Although the respiratory virus outbreak is in its early stages, it has already left a mounting human and economic toll, wrote Matt Wolf, who leads accounting firm RSM’s healthcare valuation consulting group. Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced the first domestic case of the virus, technically called 2019 Novel Coronavirus, in a Washington state patient who had recently returned from Wuhan, China. Another case was confirmed in Chicago, the Associated Press reported.
At deadline, more than 900 people were confirmed as having contracted the disease, most of them in mainland China, according to a dashboard compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
Wolf compared the outbreak to the deadly severe acute respiratory syndrome virus in 2002 and 2003, which spooked investors and prompted Chinese markets to plunge. He also cited the Ebola virus, which spread through West Africa from 2014 to 2016, killing more than 11,000 people. Ebola also killed 11 people in the U.S.
U.S. hospitals spent more than $360 million preparing for potential Ebola cases, with those designated as frontline centers shouldering more of the costs. For the Wuhan virus, the potential ripple effect is far bigger, Wolf wrote. “An epidemic in a country like China, where foreign citizens are more likely to travel to the U.S. for leisure, only magnifies the problem,” he said.
Beyond China and the U.S., the Wuhan virus has spread to Japan, South Korea, Thailand, France and several other countries. The Lunar New Year holiday began Jan. 25, which means many people in China will be taking time off and traveling for the weeklong holiday.
Nashville’s Vanderbilt University Medical Center announced last week it had changed its electronic prompts so that patients entering the hospital, emergency department or clinics with a fever or respiratory symptoms will be asked if they have visited China recently or have had contact with anyone who has. Patients at risk of having the virus will be placed in isolation, said Dr. William Schaffner, professor of infectious diseases and preventive medicine at VUMC and a member of its infection-control committee.
“It should offer reassurance to people in the community that we’re aware of the events that are unfolding in China and now elsewhere, including the U.S., and that we’re bringing that sense of prevention and precaution home,” he said. Schaffner said he would be surprised if other hospitals were not implementing similar protocols.
The CDC first warned medical providers to look out for patients with respiratory symptoms and a history of travel to Wuhan. The agency is developing guidance for testing and managing the illness, including at home. The CDC plans to distribute a diagnostic test soon that will speed up detection time. Currently, testing must take place at the CDC.
On Jan. 17, the agency implemented screenings at airports in Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco and later added them in Atlanta and Chicago.
Originally thought to spread only from animal-to-animal, the CDC says there is growing evidence that limited person-to-person spread is happening as well, similar to how the SARS virus spread.
Given there have been relatively few deaths in China with respect to the number of infections, Schaffner said the Wuhan virus’ mortality rate is so far much lower than that of SARS or Middle East respiratory syndrome, both of which were as high as 50%.
On the other hand, U.S. hospitals will see thousands of flu patients and many deaths from the illness, he said. “Familiarity … sometimes breeds nonchalance,” Schaffner said. ●