Yale New Haven Health screening severely ill patients for Chinese virus
New Haven — Yale New Haven Hospital staff members are screening any patients with “an acute respiratory infection” to determine whether they have traveled to Wuhan, China, or have had contact with anyone arriving from the area, Dr. Richard Martinello, medical director for infection prevention at Yale New Haven Health, said Wednesday.
However, the chances of the disease infecting anyone in Connecticut is low at this point, Martinello said. The Yale New Haven Health System includes Yale New Haven, Bridgeport, Greenwich, Lawrence + Memorial (New London) and Westerly (R.I.) hospitals and the Northeast Medical Group.
The novel coronavirus, which has caused an outbreak of pneumonia centered in Wuhan, killing 17, was first identified in the United States in a patient in Washington state who had recently returned from the city of 11 million, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Arriving passengers are being screened at John F. Kennedy,
Los Angeles and San Francisco international airports and the Chinese state media reported Wednesday the first human-to-human transmission. The CDC said it would be adding screening at Chicago’s and Atlanta’s international airports this week.
“We started last week in sending out communications very broadly to our staff … to reinforce the need and the importance of checking in with patients who are coming in with an acute respiratory infection to see if they have had travel to any of the areas that are affected,” Martinello said.
“It’s not quite clear right now whether or not there’s local transmission in areas outside of Wuhan,” he said. “Right now, we’re asking them if they’ve been to Wuhan within the 14 days before they got sick [or] if they otherwise think they’ve been exposed to anybody who’s been sick with this novel coronavirus.”
Four cases have been confirmed among Chinese travelers in South Korea, Japan and Thailand, as well as in a Taiwanese businesswoman who had returned from Wuhan.