Nationwide Heart for Immunization and Respiratory Illnesses Director Dr. Nancy Messonnier, speaks throughout a information convention in January. Messonnier on Friday defended the CDC’s dealing with of a brand new coronavirus case in California.
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Nationwide Heart for Immunization and Respiratory Illnesses Director Dr. Nancy Messonnier, speaks throughout a information convention in January. Messonnier on Friday defended the CDC’s dealing with of a brand new coronavirus case in California.
Samuel Corum/Getty Photographs
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The Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention says there’s been “confusion” concerning the dealing with of a coronavirus affected person in California who is assumed to signify the primary case of the virus being transmitted within the normal inhabitants, reasonably than by means of a recognized contact with somebody who has been in China.
The case entails a girl who seems to have contracted the virus in California, apparently with out having contact with anybody who had traveled overseas or was beforehand recognized to have the coronavirus.
On Friday, one other affected person believed to have equally contracted the virus was reported in Santa Clara County in Northern California and a 3rd in Oregon’s Washington County was described by officers there as a “confirmed presumptive case” that additionally had no historical past of journey exterior the nation or shut contact with an contaminated particular person.
The most recent instances could possibly be point out a wider outbreak within the U.S.
The UC Davis Medical Heart in Sacramento, Calif., the place the girl was being handled, says its prognosis of the affected person’s COVID-19, the illness attributable to the novel coronavirus, was delayed for days as a result of the affected person did not initially meet the CDC’s standards to approve a coronavirus take a look at.
The hospital says its workers requested a take a look at from “public well being officers” after the affected person was transferred to its facility final Wednesday. Nonetheless, UC Davis Medical Heart added, “Because the affected person didn’t match the present CDC standards for COVID-19, a take a look at was not instantly administered.”
On a briefing name Friday, Dr. Nancy Messonnier, the director of the Nationwide Heart for Immunization and Respiratory Illnesses, stated there had been “some confusion about whether or not this particular person met CDC’s standards for testing for COVID-19.”
“Our scientific staff, working with state and native well being departments to evaluate [persons under investigation], has not stated no to any requests for testing,” she stated.
“CDC’s definition of a [Person Under Investigation] from the start has been broad for vacationers, particularly as a result of this was a illness that was being launched from one other a part of the world,” Messonnier stated.
“We have now been on the lookout for folks with fever, cough, or bother respiration. Fever and cough are fairly broad parameters, particularly throughout flu season,” she stated. “We have needed to rule out many individuals who had different respiratory diseases.”
“At this level in our investigation, we’re most targeted on asymptomatic people who find themselves near being confirmed instances or had journey historical past,” she stated, including “However our standards additionally permits for scientific discretion.”
Throughout testimony by CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield earlier than the Home Overseas Affairs subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific Thursday, Rep. Ami Bera, MD (D-Calif.), a former chief medical officer for Sacramento County, stated he realized that UC Davis Medical Heart first requested and been refused a coronavirus take a look at on Feb. 19, the identical day the affected person was admitted.
Requested about Rep. Bera’s account of occasions, Messonnier replied, “In line with CDC data, the primary name we obtained about this affected person was on Sunday, February 23rd. Interval.”
Messonnier’s remarks got here because the federal authorities’s dealing with of the coronavirus epidemic — which started in central China in December and has contaminated greater than 83,000 folks worldwide and killed practically 3,000 — got here beneath rising scrutiny.
Amongst different issues, a whistleblower is alleging that Well being and Human Companies workers who had been deployed to assist Individuals evacuated attributable to coronavirus outbreaks didn’t have correct protecting tools or coaching.
The Washington Submit first reported on the criticism, and now two Democratic lawmakers in Congress are asking for investigations into what occurred.
In line with correspondence from Reps. Richard Neal, D-Mass., and Jimmy Gomez, D-Calif., the whistleblower alleges workers had been despatched into quarantine areas, “with out private protecting tools, coaching, or expertise in managing public well being emergencies, security protocols, and the potential hazard to each themselves and members of the general public they arrive into contact with.”
After elevating considerations, the whistleblower claims that workers had been “admonished by [redacted] for ‘reducing workers morale,’ accused of not being staff gamers, and had their psychological well being and emotional stability questioned.”
“We consider these potentially-exposed HHS workers have subsequently been interacting with the general public, together with taking business air flights and returning dwelling to their households, with out being examined for coronavirus or taking another precautious,” the lawmakers write to the HHS Secretary Alex Azar. They says they’re “alarmed” by the allegations and have additionally requested the company’s inspector normal and the Authorities Accountability Workplace to analyze.
The Submit stories that the whistleblower was improperly reassigned to a different division and advised to simply accept the brand new place or be terminated.
Ari Wilkenfeld, an legal professional representing the whistleblower, writes in a press release to NPR: “The retaliatory efforts to intimidate and silence our consumer have to be opposed.”
On Friday, Secretary Azar stated on Fox Information, “We should have a full investigation to study if there’s any reality to those allegations,” including “we are going to by no means tolerate any type of retaliation towards a whistleblower.”
NPR Science Correspondent Rob Stein contributed to this report.