Patients tested in Alameda County for coronavirus

A number of patients have been recently tested in Alameda County for signs of possible exposure to a deadly virus that has spread quickly from China to other parts of the world.

Alameda County health department spokeswoman Neetu Balram said Thursday that there are no confirmed cases yet among the patients, who presented to care providers with signs such as high fever or a cough.

Balram, who would only describe the number as “below 10,” said providers would have talked to patients to see if they had recently traveled to Wuhan, Hebei Province, or had close contact with someonewho had the virus, before possibly collecting specimens to send to the U. S. Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta for follow-up testing.

Balram was not able to say Thursday night where in the county the patients resided or their ages.

Preliminary tests appear to have ruled out a few patients as suffering from the flu, while others were expected to receive additional testing, Balram said.

The county health department issued an alert about the virus Thursday, reminding residents to practice good hygiene and call ahead to a doctor’s office or emergency room if they or someone they know has traveled to Wuhan or feels sick. Travelers from Wuhan are being screened at San Francisco and Los Angeles international airports, as well as Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York and Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport.

The outbreak in China has caused at least 25 deaths and infected more than 800 people, causing widespread lockdowns in three major cities and curtailing public events in many other areas. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed one U. S. case of the disease, a Washington state man who contracted the disease after visiting Wuhan.

No one was being tested for the virus in Santa Clara County, according to a public health officer Thursday night.

“The County of Santa Clara Public Health Department has not received any reports of novel coronavirus, and at this time, Santa Clara County residents are at low risk for this virus,” the department said in a statement. The potential for a disease outbreak is always a public health concern so we are preparing should the virus make its way here.”

Officials in Contra Costa and San Mateo counties did not immediately respond to inquiries seeking confirmation of tests.

UC Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy canceled a scheduled Jan. 30 health policy lecture, “Policies to Respond to the Next Influenza Pandemic,” by Dr. Tim Uyeki, chief medical officer of the CDC’s influenza division, because the emerging virus response limited his ability to travel.