The
first case of the Wuhan coronavirus has been reported in Seattle.
A person in Washington State is infected with the Wuhan coronavirus, the first confirmed case in the United States of a mysterious respiratory infection that has killed at least six people and sickened hundreds more in Asia.
The man is a resident of Snohomish County, Wash., who experienced symptoms after returning from a trip to the region around Wuhan, China, where the outbreak began. He was hospitalized with pneumonia last week, and infection with the coronavirus was confirmed on Monday afternoon.
Local officials declined to identify the patient, who was said to be quite ill.
News of the first case in the United States comes amid growing evidence that the virus spreads from person to person, although it is not clear how easily.
I intended to do a post asking whether Canadian health authorities were doing
anything enough to screen the steady stream of arrivals that enter Canada daily from China, especially through Vancouver. Surely we haven't forgotten the experience Toronto endured with the SARS virus, a similar contagion.
4 comments:
I hope they don't start the kabuki theatre of airport screening. Airport screening was totally useless against SARS and there's little reason to believe it would be more effective now. The SARS post-mortem in Ontario found that "the most effective screening point was the first portal to the health system, whether it be advice from a family doctor or a trip to a hospital emergency room." Which sucks if you're in ER when someone walks in with coronavirus, but saves everyone else the hassle and wasted time and money at the airport.
Cap
While I realize that there's more to it than this, I see another lesson from China to be ignored like the rest lest some business plan be inconvenienced or upset.
It seems they have some new scanning technology, Cap. I must confess that living out here on the Pacific I don't pay much attention to these things.
John, I suspect you're right.
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