The Fort Lee patient arrived in the emergency room Tuesday, having felt sick for two days.

Doctors and nurses evaluated and admitted the 32-year-old man at Hackensack University Medical Center, encountering a brand new threat — the first of New Jersey’s two coronavirus cases. A dedicated team of medical personnel whisked him to a negative pressure isolation room, where it continues to treat him.

And each time they do, those medical workers risk exposure.

They wear protective gear, including N95 respirators and face and eye coverings — measures to prevent fissures in the system from infecting them or allowing the novel virus to spread.

“Physicians and residents are most on the front lines, and the ones (patients) are most likely to see when they are sick,” said Dr. Henry Fraimow, an epidemiologist at Cooper University Hospital in Camden.

Medical workers often face the highest risk during an outbreak. This was clear when the coronavirus began sweeping through Wuhan, China — the epicenter of the global crisis — in December, infecting nearly 3,400 healthcare workers by Feb. 24, according to Chinese health authorities.

As New Jersey grapples with the likelihood of many more COVID-19 patients, hospitals are closely following safety protocols, not only to treat possible cases but to protect their staffs from infection.

The safety of medical workers is paramount. Maybe the biggest fear hospital officials have is losing a percentage of their staff while their facilities are overwhelmed with patients.

“The risk is low if we are able to identify, isolate, and evaluate quickly and while observing respiratory precautions,” said Dr. Daniel W. Varga, chief physician at Hackensack Meridian Health.

But health officials have made it clear: There will be many more cases in the state. And that will increase the complexity of medical staff safety.

COVID-19 is more virulent than the flu. It is spread through droplets from a sneeze or cough that can travel six feet and remain on surfaces, putting healthcare workers in danger.

“There’s certainly risk — being in six feet of the patient and getting coughed and sneezed on,” said Dr. David Cennimo, infectious disease expert at Rutgers University Medical School.

But Cennimo said there is less fear among those on the ground, actually facing and treating patients.

“We assume these risks every year,” he added.

More than 93,000 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed worldwide, leading to more than 3,100 deaths, mostly in China. The virus has infected more than 120 people in the U.S. and killed 11.

The staff at Hackensack University Medical Center has been drilling for similar scenarios since the Ebola epidemic of 2014, said Dr. Ihor Sawczuk, regional president for Hackensack Meridian Health, at a Thursday press conference.

"We are well aware of what it takes to manage these patients,” he said.

The Fort Lee man tested “presumptive-positive” for COVID-19 and remains in stable condition. He is a health care worker who lives with his family in Manhattan, but maintains an apartment in Fort Lee, according to borough Mayor Mark Sokolich.

The unidentified man developed symptoms Sunday, said New Jersey health commissioner Judith Persichilli. He went to an urgent care facility in Bergen County, which sent him to Hackensack University Medical Center.

As of Thursday evening, officials were still waiting for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to confirm the diagnoses of the state’s two cases.

The Fort Lee man is in isolation at the hospital “resting comfortably and doing well,” according to Varga, who added that the patient has been placed on visitor restrictions and that the hospital is complying with all CDC guidelines.

The U.S. has had the benefit of witnessing how the outbreak unfolded in China before any cases cropped up on American shores.

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“What happened in Wuhan — the hospitals were very quickly overwhelmed … In fact, a lot of people were catching their exposure in the hospitals,” Fraimow said. “And I think they also quickly ran out of equipment, and in the beginning, were not as rigorous using the precautions we are using now.”

One of the biggest issues, Fraimow said, is access to testing. It’s another issue that risks exposure to staff and everyone else in a hospital.

“We can’t test as readily as we would like to and don’t have a system in place to test people out of the environment, at least in New Jersey at this time,” he said.

The state’s laboratory in West Trenton is the only one currently authorized to test for COVID-19.

A patient who comes to a medical facility may have to wait there, lingering longer than they would otherwise if testing capacity was higher.

“There’s no mechanisms at least in our area to get these people tested and potentially expose other people,” Fraimow said. “That’s not good for them. That’s not good for the other people waiting, and that’s not good for staff.”

Cennimo said much is in the public’s control to help health care workers, just like with the flu.

“One of the most important things the public can do is to self identify,” he said. “So if you’re coming to a health care facility and you’re ill with coronavirus, if at all possible, call ahead.

"But as soon as you get in the door, you should be looking for and asking for the masks, and that will drop the risk to everybody else significantly.”

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Spencer Kent may be reached at skent@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @SpencerMKent. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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