New York City well being officers introduced on Saturday {that a} affected person at Bellevue Hospital Heart could have the novel coronavirus. If confirmed, it might be the primary identified occasion of the virus in New York City.
Native authorities are unable to check for the virus so they’re sending a pattern to the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention for affirmation. Based mostly on the affected person’s signs and journey historical past from China, they’re taking it severely. That is the primary time that metropolis officers have despatched a pattern to the C.D.C. for testing.
One more reason the well being authorities suspect it’s the novel coronavirus: They’ve examined it for influenza and different widespread diseases, and people exams got here again unfavourable, well being officers stated.
The well being authorities stated the person is beneath 40 and is in steady situation. They stated they don’t count on to obtain outcomes from the C.D.C. for 36 to 48 hours, or probably longer.
“A person with a journey historical past to China felt unwell and sought assist from a medical supplier who promptly contacted the Well being Division,” stated the well being commissioner, Dr. Oxiris Barbot.
The virus is believed to have originated in the Chinese language metropolis of Wuhan and has been confirmed in practically 20 different nations. There at the moment are eight confirmed instances in the USA and over 12,000 worldwide. Greater than 250 individuals have died.
Chinese language authorities have tried to lock down Wuhan in addition to quite a lot of surrounding cities. However tens of millions of individuals had already left Wuhan between the time the virus started showing late final yr and the imposition of a journey ban.
Dr. Barbot final week stated it was “inevitable” that the virus would make its approach right here. In latest days she has urged calm, telling New Yorkers to go about their lives.
Even those that not too long ago traveled from Wuhan and felt fantastic and symptom-free ought to go about their lives, she stated. Loads of individuals have heeded her recommendation however nervousness was clearly rising amongst others.
In latest days, the sight of individuals carrying surgical masks as they rode the subway or walked on the streets has grown extra widespread.
Whereas many celebrations of the Lunar New Yr, a serious Asian vacation, went on as deliberate throughout the town’s Chinatowns, some appeared to have been extra sparsely attended than in previous years.
A minimum of one massive occasion in Flushing, Queens — the Lunar New Yr Chinese language Temple Bazaar — was canceled, with organizers acknowledging the “considerations that many individuals in the group have about massive gatherings presently, particularly as a result of the total dangers of the virus will not be but identified.”
Up to now week, well being officers throughout New York State have despatched samples — taken by way of an oral swab, nasal swab and by asking a affected person to spit — from at the least 10 individuals to the C.D.C. in Atlanta to be examined for the coronavirus. Native laboratories should not have that functionality for now.
City well being officers say they’re prepared for this second, given their historical past of coping with unfamiliar or extremely contagious viruses.
In 2018 and 2019, the town contended with an outbreak of measles — one of the contagious illnesses — in Brooklyn. And in 2014, Bellevue, the town’s flagship public hospital, handled an Ebola affected person.
“The present danger is low, and the extent of preparedness is excessive,” Dr. Barbot stated on Tuesday at a information convention in Manhattan’s Chinatown.
Public well being officers have been urging anybody with flu-like or respiratory signs who’ve traveled to Wuhan not too long ago — or been in contact with somebody who has — to hunt medical care instantly.
The officers have additionally stated that sufferers discovered to have the brand new coronavirus could also be despatched house to trip out the sickness if the signs appear comparatively delicate. Sufferers extra severely affected could be hospitalized.
Complicating issues, public well being officers stated, is that New York is in the midst of a comparatively dangerous flu season.