Rock Island and Scott Counties held a joint press

Monday morning to address the coronavirus.

As of Monday, there are no confirmed cases of the coronavirus in either county. However, the number of cases has been rising in both Illinois and Iowa. On Monday, there were 11 confirmed cases in Illinois and eight confirmed cases in Iowa.

“My assumption is that it is going to happen here,” Dr. LouisKatz, Scott County Health Department’s Medical Director said during the press conference Monday. “In public health you get paid to think about what is the worst that can happen. Predicting what is going to happen is a fool's game but I think we need to be prepared for sustained community transmission.”

At the press conference, Genesis Health System officials advised Quad Citians who feel sick to call before going to their appointments or walk-in clinics.

“We are doing telephone triage calls for patients who have appointments scheduled,” said Lisa Caffery, Genesis Infection Prevention Coordinator. “If you’re coming in for an appointment, give us a call before you come in if you’re sick so that we can make the appropriate arrangements. Right now we have our supplies and we’re business as usual.”

Genesis has been preparing for possible Quad Cities coronavirus cases since December.

The reason why it's so unpredictable and cases are popping up in multiple locations is because people transmit the virus before they even show any symptoms. That’s why the Scott County Health Department is already thinking about what would happen in the Quad Cities worst-case scenario.

“You start talking about school closures, business closures, university closures, work from home --- all those things that get people apart,” Dr. Katz said. “That’s not so much to reduce the number of people getting infected, but to lower the peak and extend the epidemic so that our health care and social services can be maintained from crashing.”

Dr. Katz also wanted Quad Citians to be informed about the realities of the coronavirus and know that cases aren’t always severe.

“Eighty percent of the cases are mild. This is data from 50,000 cases in China,” Dr. Katz said. “That means essentially they look like they got a cold. 14% are severe which means they are presenting with ammonia and only five percent are critical.”

The CDC said it’s best to

to places like China, Italy and Japan if you want to avoid the coronavirus.

Genesis

on how you can take further precaution to avoid catching the coronavirus.