Three Kitsap County residents are being tested for novel coronavirus, though results were still pending on Tuesday, according to the Kitsap Public Health District.

Local public health officials say they expect COVID-19 — the illness caused by the novel coronavirus — is already spreading in Kitsap, though there were not yet confirmed cases outside of King and Snohomish counties as of midday Tuesday.

Kingston High School closed Monday after a parent informed the district that their child was being tested for COVID-19, according to a spokesperson. However, the Kitsap Public Health District did not confirm if the student is being tested and is not releasing any additional information about the individuals who are being tested.

Kitsap Public Health Officer Susan Turner said the public health response is beyond working to prevent the novel coronavirus, known as SARS-CoV-2, from arriving in the Puget Sound region.

“We have moved past that time. It is no longer containable to countries outside of the United States,” Turner said at the Kitsap Health Board meeting Tuesday. “So our focus has changed to slowing its spread.”

The public health district is assuming the novel coronavirus is already spreading in Kitsap. And its approach to fighting the outbreak has changed: Public health officials are now working to prevent a mass outbreak that could overwhelm hospitals and other medical providers all at once and make it more difficult to handle more serious cases.

“It's super important that we try very hard to make sure not everyone gets it at once,” Turner said. “We want to make sure people protect others so when it spreads through our community it's a much more gradual spread.”

Health officials are encouraging people who become sick with a COVID-19 or other respiratory infections to stay home and stay away from others instead of going to the emergency room. People should call ahead before going to their physician's office.

Only those with more serious complications should go to the hospital or the doctor’s office, Turner said. Those most at-risk are people with underlying health issues, like lung or heart diseases, as well as older residents.

People should also take basic hygiene measures, including washing hands, keeping hands away from the mouth and face, covering coughs and sneezes, avoiding close contact with people who are ill and staying home when you are sick.

Those steps should be done every flu season, but Turner says they are especially important to protect people who are vulnerable to COVID-19; unlike the flu, there’s not yet a vaccine nor built-up immunity to the illness. “We want people to care about it with this. We want them to care about it with the flu, too, it's the only thing they can do (with COVID-19),” Turner said.

However, public health officials are urging people not to rush out and buy facemasks. They want to ensure they are available for health workers who are on the frontlines of evaluating and treating patients.

In the past several weeks, state health officials have sought to cut off the novel coronavirus through quarantine efforts, which attempted to isolate possible cases on an individual basis. That had included monitoring people who had traveled to China and instructing them to stay home for two weeks, as well as quarantining those who came from Wuhan.

But that’s changed after the influx of confirmed COVID-19 cases over the week, which has turned the Seattle area into the epicenter of the growing public health crisis.

There are now more than two dozen confirmed cases in Washington state, including three more deaths reported Tuesday, which brings the death count up to at least nine. All but one of those deaths were King County residents; the other was from Snohomish County, according to the Washington State Department of Health.

The state health department started testing possible novel coronavirus cases last Friday at a public health lab in Shoreline. Previously, specimens were sent to the Centers for Disease Control for testing, a process that took several days to receive results.

However, there is not yet widespread testing for the novel coronavirus. That means people who have COVID-19 may not have the illness confirmed with a test.

It’s likely coming down with COVID-19 will no longer be an "exceptional diagnosis," Turner said. Kitsap Public Health District will only be investigating COVID-19 cases that result in hospitalization, are requested by doctors, or are clustered, like an outbreak at a school or nursing facility.

“There will be more infections to come most likely.” Turner said. “It will be very common for people in Kitsap County at some point to have (COVID-19), just like influenza and all the other respiratory infections going on.”

And while people should take steps to protect themselves and others from the illness, they should remain calm and take care of the novel coronavirus much like the flu, albeit with a little more diligence.

“We are likely to experience the spread of this virus and in fact we are asking that people assume spread is occurring now,” she said.

For the latest information about the novel coronavirus, please visit:

Kitsap Public Health District: https://kitsappublichealth.org/temporaryContent/CoronaVirus.php

Washington State Department of Health: https://www.doh.wa.gov/Emergencies/Coronavirus

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html

Austen Macalus is the Kitsap Sun's social services reporter — covering health care, homelessness and how programs are serving those in need. He can be reached at austen.macalus@kitsapsun.com or 360-536-6423.

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