Ryan Vlahovich

Arizona Republic

Arizona Department of Health Services Director Cara Christ answered media questions regarding the news that an Arizona resident has contracted novel coronavirus.

The ADHS and the Maricopa County Department of Public Health issued a joint statement Sunday afternoon confirming that a person affiliated with Arizona State University who recently returned from Wuhan, China, was infected with the disease.

The age and gender of the infected person were not disclosed.

The virus has infected at least 1,975 people worldwide and killed 56 people in China since it was first diagnosed last month, according to country's National Health Commission.

The first U.S. case appeared when a Washington-state man in his 30s was diagnosed on Tuesday. A woman in her 60s was the second diagnosed case, appearing in Chicago on Friday. Two more cases appeared in Southern California.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says more people are likely to develop the virus within the U.S.

Following is an abbreviated media interview with Christ regarding the illness and risk to Arizonans.

Question: ASU has many people that go to school there. How can this affect the other people?

Answer: So what we know right now is that this individual traveled to the impacted area of China, (then) came back. We are following up with public health in the university but we'll be following up with this individual who has currently been isolated. They will also be following up with any close contacts. Very similar to any other type of communicable disease outbreak that we normally run such as measles or food-borne illness, they will be following up with individuals that we believe are close contacts of them

Q: What is the isolation process like and how long does it take?

A: The individual has been isolated away from others at this point. We will figure out when they can come out of isolation, in coordination with local health and the CDC.

Q: How long could that take?

A: It could take anywhere from a couple of days to a couple of weeks.

Q: Where is this person being contained?

A: I believe they are being contained in their home.

Q: Are you expecting more cases?

A: We are constantly monitoring. There had been quite a few travelers returning from China. What we're asking is that if you were in that impacted area, and have returned and have developed symptoms such as sore throat, runny nose, cough, respiratory illness, difficulty breathing, that you call your health care provider, let them know of your travel history so that they can evaluate you.

Q: Is it just Wuhan or is it other places?

A: Currently, right now it is just Wuhan. We are working with our federal partners and our local partners to determine if that needs to be expanded based on how the situation unfolds in China.

Q: Is this a potential professor or student at ASU?

A: It's someone who is part of the ASU community. We can't get much more specific than that, because it could be potentially identifying.

Q: How contagious is this?

A: We do believe that there is person to person spread among close contacts, but it will we will continue to monitor.

Q: How was this person diagnosed?

A: The individual had been aware of the news had been following what was going on in China and did alert their health care provider that they had a travel history.

Q: Should ASU students go to the hospital or call ahead if they have symptoms?

A: What we're asking is if you had a travel history, the other thing to keep in mind is we do have influenza pretty prevalent in the community. We've got over 12,000 cases here in Arizona. The symptoms are very, very similar. What we're asking for people who have either been with or have traveled to Wuhan, China, or have had close contacts and are notified by public health, that they are a close contact, that they call ahead to their health care provider before going in so that they don't expose people in the waiting room and they can arrange for a time. Very similarly, if you do not have a health care provider and you need to go be evaluated in emergency department, call ahead so that they can meet you outside and take appropriate precautions.

Q: How many people has this person interacted with?

A: We're still gathering that information. We have a pretty good idea, but we'll continue to work with the individual to identify.

Q: When did they come back?

A: I am not sure.

Q: How fast can you be diagnosed?

A: If you went into the hospital, they would coordinate with public health, we would be testing. The testing currently is done at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And so we're coordinating with them. So it's usually about a two to three day turnaround.

Q: How easily can this be spread?

A: With all respiratory viruses that have human to human spread, what you want to make sure that you're doing is washing your hands frequently, that you're not touching your hands, nose and mouth, that you're cleaning surfaces, especially if somebody does have respiratory symptoms because they can be relatively transmissible. We are still working to identify how infectious this specific disease is, but knowing that we've got flu prevalent in our community, it's always a good idea to take those precautions and to make sure that you're vaccinated.

Q: Should people be looking out for this?

A: We believe that if you have not traveled or if you are not in close contact with somebody who's either under evaluation or diagnosed with the coronavirus, that the risk is relatively low. However, just like with flu and other respiratory illnesses, those with underlying medical conditions, whether it's flu or 2019 novel coronavirus, are at increased risk of complications.

Q: How early on are the symptoms?

A: So the symptoms will appear two to 14 days once you're exposed.

Q: How sick is the individual?

A: The individual has mild symptoms and is not hospitalized.

Q: What are the expectations for maybe more cases in the area?

A: We'll continue to monitor and identify cases. It's always hard at the beginning of an outbreak to predict, you know, what we're going to see. So we'll continue to monitor.

Q: Should the ASU community be concerned at all?

A: We will be working directly with the university and local public health in order to identify contacts and to make sure that they are being followed and monitored for signs and symptoms of developing the illness. What I would caution people is that there is a lot of flu out in the community, so you should always be taking precautions against respiratory virus.

Q: What would those cautions be?

A: Stay home if you're sick. Don't sneeze or cough into your hands, do it into a sleeve or a tissue, make sure that tissue makes it into the trash can. Wash your hands frequently and don't touch your mouth or your nose or your face because that's how they can spread.

Q: Do you know how long they were in China?

A: I want to say it was about two weeks. I don't know though the exact dates.

Q: Is this person by any chance a Chinese national?

A: That I don’t know. All I know is that they’re a Maricopa County resident.

Q: Are children at higher risk than adults perhaps?

A: They very well could be. What we are seeing is that it's those with underlying medical conditions that are really at risk of developing complications.

Q: Is that also similar to the flu?

A: Yes. So that's very similar to the flu. What we are seeing currently with the flu in our community is that it is impacting children with influenza B, so we continue to monitor and will identify if there are additional cases.

Q: Are there any other locations in the area that could’ve been impacted by this?

A: We're continuing to follow up. We believe that the passenger was asymptomatic during travel. And so, we will be following up though if we get further information.

Q: Is someone most contagious when they are symptomatic or asymptomatic?

A: We believe that they’re most contagious when they are symptomatic.

Q: Is anyone living with the contained individual?

A: This individual is voluntarily self-isolated.

Q: Besides containment, what other treatment is going on?

A: Right now it would be supportive treatment, so treating the symptoms. There is no vaccine for this for this virus.

Q: How effective would it be to treat that person with over-the-counter medications?

A: That's exactly what they would do. Supportive treatment would be things like medications to reduce fever, oxygen if they were having difficulty breathing, doing those types of treatments to support the symptoms that they were experiencing, and keeping them as healthy as possible.

Q: Will they reach out to any other students if they feel like they could be at risk?

A: We will be contacting students that that are considered to be close contacts or at risk.

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