In a telebriefing on Friday, January 24, with Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases; Dr. Marty Cetron, director of CDC’s Division of Global Migration and Quarantine; and health officials from the Illinois Department of Health, new information was disclosed about the CDC’s ongoing investigations of 63 patients being tested for 2019 Novel Coronavirus from 22 US states.
(As of Sunday, January 26, the CDC added that additional patients were being tested and confirmed the total number of 2019-nCoV infections detected in the United States is now five. Read the details here: https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2020/s0126-coronavirus-new-cases.html)
At the telebriefing, Dr. Messonnier reported, “the information we have so far suggests an incubation period of around two weeks. That’s not surprising given the kind of virus this is. That’s a general guideline.” She went on to say that the CDC is “generally testing respiratory samples, but we are also testing blood, and we are currently working to expand the kind of diagnostics we can do, but the focus right now with the real-time PCR is respiratory specimens and sometimes blood.”
“To date, we have 63 of what we are calling patients under investigation or PUIs from 22 states. So far, only two have been confirmed positive and 11 tested negative. We anticipate by next week we’ll begin regular reporting of case information on our website. There are likely to be many more PUIs identified in the coming days. We have faced similar public health challenges before. Those outbreaks were complex and required a comprehensive public health response. This is what we are preparing for. We have an aggressive response with the goal of identifying potential cases early.”
She continued, “We want to make sure these patients get the best and most appropriate care. This is a rapidly changing situation both abroad and domestically, and we are still learning. Let’s remember this virus was identified within the past month and there is much we don’t know yet. We are expecting more cases in the U.S., and we are likely going to see some cases among close contacts of travelers and human-to-human transmission. Our goal is always to protect the health of Americans. We at CDC have our best people working on this problem.”
Dr. Messonnier added, “State and local health departments who are following and investigating these cases that guideline how they proceed with that investigation partly depends on their clinical suspicion of whether this is likely to be a positive case. And so, for example, with this patient, the health department had a very high degree of suspicion and even before the diagnosis had already started to think about their initial investigations.”
“Earlier last week the CDC was notified by Illinois Department of Health of a Chicago resident who had returned from Wuhan on January 13. The individual did not have symptoms while traveling. More recently, the individual began experiencing symptoms, and called her healthcare provider and ultimately was admitted to the hospital and placed in isolation. As the patient did in this case, we ask that any individuals who begin experiencing symptoms and have recently traveled to Wuhan or had contact with someone diagnosed with the novel coronavirus, call their healthcare provider or hospital before seeking treatments so that the appropriate infection control measures can be put in place. The coordination between the hospitals, local and state health departments allowed specimens to be quickly shipped and tested at the CDC. This coordination between providers, hospitals, and public health is critical for our continued effort to best respond to and reduce transmission,” Dr. Messonnier said.
Additional CDC points:
- The CDC has instituted an aggressive response with the goal of identifying potential cases early. They want to make sure these patients get the best and most appropriate care. This is a rapidly changing situation both abroad and domestically, and we are still learning.
- Let’s remember this virus was just identified within the past month and there is much we don’t know yet. We are expecting more cases in the U.S., and we are likely going to see some cases among close contacts of travelers and human-to-human transmission. Our goal is always to protect the health of Americans.
- CDC believes that the immediate risk to the American public continues to be low at this time, but that the situation continues to evolve rapidly. CDC recommends travelers avoid all non-essential travel to Wuhan. We also recommend people traveling to other parts of China practice certain health precautions, like avoiding contact with people who are sick and practicing good hand hygiene.
- Returning travelers with symptoms, or close contact with people confirmed with coronavirus, may be asked to take precautionary measures and there may be some disruptions.
- Although Chinese officials have closed transport within and out of Wuhan, China, CDC will continue to conduct enhanced screening at five designated airports: New York JFK, San Francisco, LAX, Chicago O’Hare and Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson. We are currently evaluating the extent and duration of this enhanced screening. Every day we learn more and every day we assess to see if our guidance or response can be improved. As the response evolves, CDC will continue our aggressive public health response strategy.
