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Health officials are watching NC patient’s contacts for signs of coronavirus spread
A day after a lone North Carolina patient tested positive for COVID-19, health officials say no one who has been in contact with the Wake County man has shown symptoms or been tested for coronavirus.
But the man’s household members have been quarantined. And as a precaution, people outside his family — including some living in other counties across the state — have been asked to limit their travel and interactions with others to see whether they develop symptoms over the next two weeks.
At a news conference Wednesday, Chris Kippes, director of Wake County’s division of public health, said a number of people within Wake and elsewhere in North Carolina have been asked to voluntarily “self-quarantine” because they had been within 6 feet of the sick patient for at least 10 minutes after he began to show symptoms of illness. At a minimum, those people are being asked to check their temperatures twice a day and report any changes.
County health officials said their contact list would include businesses such as restaurants or retail stores where the patient would have been in close proximity to others for 10 minutes or more.
The patient himself remains in isolation at home.
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The man is thought to have been exposed to COVID-19 during a visit to a care facility in Washington state where there has been an outbreak of the disease.
The man returned home through Raleigh-Durham International Airport 10 days before he tested positive for the illness, airport officials said.
The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services notified Raleigh restaurant so.ca on Wednesday morning that the coronavirus patient had dined there on Saturday, Feb. 29, owner Sean Degnan confirmed in a phone interview. Degnan notified the restaurant’s staff in an email.
Degnan said he and a small team spent Wednesday sanitizing the restaurant and that all diners who could have potentially been in contact with the patient have already been notified.
“We are doing our part to limit any exposure, although the Department of Health said the risk to anyone catching the disease is extremely low at this point due to the short incubation of the disease outside the human body,” read the email, which was shared with the News & Observer.
At the moment, Kippes said, the patient “is doing well and resting comfortably at home.”
An isolated incident, officials say
Kippes said the county is treating the infection as an isolated incident.
“That’s why we are not recommending that organizations make major changes by canceling festivals, conferences or events in Wake County,” he said. “At this time, there is no reason for the public to panic. That energy can best be served with prevention efforts.”
Just before Kippes spoke, organizers of the 2020 International Festival planned for this weekend at the N.C. State Fairgrounds canceled the event, citing concerns over the coronavirus.
Kippes would not say where the man had been since returning from Washington state or noticing symptoms or how many people are thought to have been in close contact with him.
“At this time, the risk of contracting COVID-19 in Wake County is still low,” Kippes said.
Wake has also notified public health departments in other counties where the Wake patient had contact with their residents. Kippes would not say which counties Wake has contacted.
“We’re following the protocol and the recommendations,” he said.
Kippes said the state is following the guidelines of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control in determining who should be placed in isolation or quarantine, and who needs to be notified of possible exposure to the coronavirus.
For now, he said, health officials are only informing those people who meet the CDC’s description of having had close contact with the patient.
The state began testing for the virus in the N.C. Laboratory of Public Health this week. Patients who suspect they may have the virus based on symptoms and exposure risks are asked to contact their doctor’s office before coming in.
Dr. Mandy Cohen, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, said the state has tested between 10 and 15 people for the virus, and as of Wednesday had enough kits for about 150 tests. The manufacturer of the test is ramping up production, and Cohen said North Carolina expects to receive 500 more kits by the end of this week and additional kits next week.
Wake County has created a web page with information about the coronavirus at http://www.wakegov.com/covid19/Pages/default.aspx, which includes a link to ask specific questions about the illness.
Gov. Roy Cooper announced Tuesday that North Carolina had its first case of coronavirus illness.
The respiratory illness was first found in Wuhan, China, and has been gradually spreading to other countries since. As of Wednesday, the CDC’s website showed 80 cases in 13 U.S. states. A total of nine deaths in the U.S. have been attributed to the virus. On the East Coast, cases also have been reported in Florida, Georgia, New York, Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
Health industry workers are preparing for additional cases to appear in North Carolina. Triangle hospitals told The News & Observer on Tuesday they have been working for weeks to be able to accept COVID-19 patients whose symptoms require an elevated level of care.
People taking precautions
Residents are taking precautions, too, snatching up hand sanitizer and trying to practice the 30-second, soap-and-warm water hand-washing techniques they learned in kindergarten.
Some are going a few steps further, following health officials’ advice to sock away a little extra of any maintenance medications they take, such as those that treat high blood pressure or diabetes, in case they need to stay home for a couple of weeks.
On Wednesday, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina announced it was taking steps to help its insured patients protect against the coronavirus threat and get treatment if they need it.
“The health and safety of our members is always our top priority,” Dr. Von Nguyen, vice president of clinical operations and innovations at Blue Cross NC said in a statement from the company. “By taking these steps, we are helping our members stay home if need be with the goal of keeping them and others well. If you have concerns about whether you have been exposed, please call your primary care doctor.”
The company has set up a webpage to describe its efforts, which will take effect March 6 and will include improving online access to doctors to reduce the need for sick people to travel; expediting the approval of hospitalizations, post-acute care and home medical equipment; and waiving early medication refill limits on 30-day prescription maintenance medications to allow patients to keep a one-month supply on hand.
The CDC advises that ordinary face masks are not reliable protection against coronavirus because they don’t provide a secure enough seal to lock out small respiratory particles that can transmit the virus. “The role of face masks is for patient source control, to prevent contamination of the surrounding area when a person coughs or sneezes,” the CDC says on its website. Patients with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 should wear a face mask until they are isolated in a hospital or at home, according to the CDC. The patient does not need to wear a face mask while isolated, it says.
That hasn’t kept customers from looking for them.
“Lay people see a surgical mask and they think that is like a shield, that it will protect them from everything,” said Keiko Bury, a pharmacist at Carrboro Family Pharmacy. “But that’s not the case. It doesn’t work that way.”
Bury said her store’s supplier is out of face masks, so she can’t restock. But when people ask, she says she gives the same advice as when flu cases start picking up each fall.
“We still try to encourage basic precautions,” she said. “If you’re sick, stay home, wash your hands, just basic common-sense type things.”
Staff writer Drew Jackson contributed to this report.
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