Person-to-person spread of virus in U.S.
Health officials on Thursday reported the first person- to- person spread of coronavirus in the United States, raising the nation’s total number of cases to the six
he new case, identified in Chicago, is the husband of a woman who sickened after returning from the Chinese city of Wuhan, the center of the outbreak, on Jan. 13. Both patients, in their 60s, are hospitalized.
While worrisome, this news does not mean that the new virus will spread to people who have not recently traveled to Hubei province, China, or have close contact with a traveler to this region, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“Based on what we know now, the risk to the American public is low,” said virologist Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the CDC, in a Thursday news briefing.
In China, more than 9,000 people have been sickened and 212 have died. Most of the deaths occurred in Hubei province. But no new cases have been reported in California. People in close contact with the state’s two known patients — one in Los Angeles County and the second in Orange County — are being closely monitored.
Health experts do not recommend the use of face masks for the general public, because it is not spreading in the wider community. They also do not recommend additional precautions, such as canceling activities or staying home.
In Riverside, 195 Wuhan- based U. S. government employees and their families who arrived at the March Air Reserve Base on Wednesday are being monitored and screened for symptoms, according to the CDC. They will be isolated at the base for several days.
The Chicago infection was transmitted “between two very close contacts: a wife and husband. The virus is not spreading widely across the community,” said Dr. Ngozi Ezike, director of the Illinois Department of Public Health.
The husband, who is reported to be in stable condition, had preexisting health problems, Ezike said. His wife is recovering.
San Francisco Airport is continuing to screen passengers from the Hubei province region, the center of the outbreak. While there are no more direct flights into the U.S., some passengers from that area of China are arriving here from other international airports. In addition, local departments of health are testing sick patients who recently traveled there.
Oakland’s James Lee and his wife, pregnant with the couple’s first child, were relieved to test negative for coronavirus after she developed flu-like symptoms following a trip in early January to visit her family in Wuhan. Instead, she was diagnosed with type A influenza.
“There was no way we could have gotten sick — we masked up everywhere we went,” said Lee, 37. While in Wuhan, the couple took taxis instead of public transit.
“There’s more rumors” flying around about the virus than “actual fact,” said Carl Chan of the Oakland Chinatown Chamber of Commerce, after hosting a Lunar New Year celebration for dozens of elementary students at Lincoln Recreation Center. “People are taking precautions to be safe.”
A trip he planned to take next week to China to promote Oakland tourism was canceled.
While nearly 20 other nations have reported new infections, most cases are in travelers from Wuhan. In those nations, there has been little local spread of the virus to others.
The World Health Organization declared on Thursday that the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak was a global health emergency, acknowledging that the disease now represents a risk beyond China.
The WHO declaration — officially called a “public health emergency of international concern” — does not have the force of law. Each nation makes its own decision about how to respond. But it gives WHO’s leadership more authority to make recommendations about how countries should handle the outbreak.
U. S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross suggested Thursday that the viral outbreak in China might offer an unexpected benefit for the U.S. economy: It could encourage American manufacturers in China to return to the United States.
“I think it will help to accelerate the return of jobs to North America. Some to U.S., probably some to Mexico as well,’’ Ross told Fox
Business Network. While saying he didn’t “want to talk about a victory lap over a very unfortunate, very malignant disease,’’ he added that “the fact is, it does give businesses yet another thing to consider when they go through their review of their supply chain.’’
Symptoms of coronavirus infection are fever, cough and shortness of breath.
While they are shared with the symptoms of influenza, the two risk factors are very specific: recent travel to China’s Hubei province or close contact with a friend or family member who has recently traveled to Hubei province.
Influenza has sickened between 15 million and 21 million and hospitalized 70,000 Americans so far this season.