NC hopes to hold off coronavirus spread until after flu season. Two cases so far.
Update: State health officials announced a second case on Friday, March 6. The patient is a man from Chatham County who traveled to Italy in late February in an area with a COVID-19 outbreak. The test, conducted in North Carolina on Thursday night, is “presumptively positive,” the state said and will be confirmed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Read more here.
No additional cases of infection from the coronavirus have been reported in North Carolina since Tuesday, but health officials continued to prepare Thursday for a possible spread of the illness at a time when some hospitals still are crowded with flu patients.
“This is exactly why we have been working so aggressively on our containment,” said Dr. Mandy Cohen, secretary of the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services.
If the spread of the new coronavirus disease can be slowed, it will give the state time to recover from the flu season and make room for coronavirus patients if they need elevated care.
North Carolina is two to three weeks past the peak of flu season, Cohen said, though some hospital emergency departments still are seeing high numbers of patients. Since the flu season began on Sept. 29, North Carolina has seen 127 deaths, including 11 during the week ending Feb. 29.
If illness from the coronavirus were to suddenly surge, Cohen said, exceeding the normal capacity of a hospital such as UNC Medical Center in Chapel Hill, a team is in place that could set up a triage tent in the parking lot, for example.
Cary church supporting Wake patient
North Carolina announced its first coronavirus patient on Tuesday, a Wake County man who had traveled to Washington where there has been an outbreak of the illness. Health officials have said the man is in isolation at home, and “is doing well and resting comfortably.”
The man attends Christ the King Lutheran Church in Cary, and Senior Pastor Wolfgang Herz-Lane said Thursday that he checks in with him daily.
“Normally, I would go to visit anyone who is sick or not feeling well,” Herz-Lane said. “But in this case of course I can’t do that.”
Herz-Lane said the man reported Thursday that he was feeling much better than the day before.
“He’s clearly recovering and getting over it,” the pastor said. “It seems that maybe it was a mild case.”
Herz-Lane said the man had last attended an event at the church on Feb. 25, before he showed symptoms. Wake County officials said no one at the church was likely to have been exposed.
As a precaution, the pastor said, the church sent out an email to church members ahead of Wednesday night’s service, which included the county’s assurances. “It was packed,” he said of the service. Letters also went out to parents of children in the church preschool, because it’s housed in the same building where the event was held.
“You know we have God on our side,” Herz-Lane said. “In the Bible, God says a million times, ‘Do not be afraid. Do not panic.’ So we’re not.”
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As of Thursday afternoon, that patient was the only person who had tested positive for the illness, but health officials were monitoring an unknown number of people in an undisclosed number of counties with whom the man had been in close contact before he was diagnosed. His household members also were quarantined.
State in contact with those who work with the elderly
Because older people with underlying illnesses appear especially vulnerable to the coronavirus illness, Cohen said state emergency management officials have been in contact with health care providers who work with the elderly and people who live in congregate settings such as nursing homes and adult care facilities.
Allison Dew, spokeswoman for the N.C. Health Care Facilities Association, said friends and family members of those living in nursing home and adult-care homes can help those who work in the facilities to slow the spread of coronavirus and other illnesses.
“Nursing facilities across North Carolina are taking steps to decrease the risk of viral outbreaks to their residents and employees,” Dew said in a statement. “First, nursing facilities are educating families and visitors on signs and symptoms of respiratory illness and encouraging them to visit with loved ones through alternative means when they are ill, such as telephone, Skype, or wearing a mask during visits, in an effort to decrease the introduction of viruses into a facility. “
Dew said those who work in the facilities have been coached on how to manage supplies of personal protective equipment, such as face masks, which are short supply as members of the public try to stock up on the items, despite advice to the contrary from the national Centers for Disease Control.
Alan Wolf, a spokesman for UNC Health, said the hospital system has taken similar measures. The Veterans Administration, which has a hospital in Durham, is advising patients who have symptoms of fever, cough, and shortness of breath and have traveled to an area where the new coronavirus has been detected or have been around others who have, to call before visiting the hospital. They can also sign into MyHealtheVet and send a message to VA telehealth options for advice.
Some parents of children in the Wake County public schools have signed an online petition this week asking the system to change its policy of using chemical sprays to sanitize cafeteria tables only when there are no children at the tables. Workers spray the tables with plain water when the children are coming and going during the busy lunch hour, but some parents believe something stronger is needed to prevent the spread of illness.
The government has said researchers are trying to learn as much as they can about how the virus behaves and how to best contain it. The website Live Science notes that it’s “not yet clear whether people infected with the new coronavirus are very contagious during the incubation period, though there have been reports of people transmitting the virus without showing symptoms. It is also unclear what proportion of people catch the virus but never develop any symptoms.”
On Thursday, the U.S. Senate passed an $8.3 billion spending package for coronavirus response by a vote of 99-1, one day after the House overwhelmingly voted for it. The package includes at least $13 million for North Carolina emergency preparedness, according to Sen. Thom Tillis’ office. President Donald Trump is expected to sign the bill soon.
The bill includes $3.4 billion for the purchase of medical supplies and vaccine research and development; $950 million to state, local and tribal governments and $490 million for remote and telehealth services for Medicare beneficiaries.
A coronavirus time line
Here is a timeline of some of the significant events in the virus’s life since it emerged in December.
Dec. 31, 2019: China alerted the World Health Organization that it had seen several cases of pneumonia caused by an unknown virus. Several of those infected worked at a wholesale seafood market in Wuhan.
Jan. 7, 2020: The WHO announced that researchers had identified the new pathogen as a coronavirus, calling it 2019-nCoV
Jan. 9: The virus claimed its first fatality, a customer who had shopped at the seafood market in China. The country announced the death on Jan. 11.
Jan. 13: The first case of the virus outside of China was reported, in Thailand.
Jan. 21: The first U.S. case of an infection from the virus was announced, a resident of Washington state who had traveled to Wuhan.
Jan. 30: The WHO declared a global emergency to help deal with the new coronavirus.
Feb. 2: The first death from the virus outside China was reported, in the Philippines.
Feb. 12: 175 people aboard the Diamond Princes cruise ship off Yokohama, Japan were reported to be infected with the virus.
Feb. 14: The WHO announced a name for the disease caused by the virus: COVID-19.
Feb. 29: The U.S. announced its first case of the virus, a patient in a hospital in Kirkland, Wash.
Feb. 29: The U.S. also announced its first death from the virus, another patient in Washington.
March 3: N.C. Gov. Roy Cooper announced the first North Carolina case of the virus, a Wake County man who had traveled to Washington State. County health officials said the man began showing symptoms of illness on Feb. 25, and was tested the same day the results were announced. They began contacting an undisclosed number people who had been in close contact with the man — within 6 feet of him for at least 10 minutes — between Feb. 25 and March 3. They have been asked to “voluntarily quarantine,” limiting their contact with others and watching for symptoms.
March 6: A second North Carolina case is reported: a man in Chatham County who had been to Italy.
Staff writers T. Keung Hui, Brooke Cain and Brian Murphy contributed to this report.
This story was originally published March 5, 2020 at 3:48 PM.
