Hermiston herald., February 05, 2020, Page 7, Image 7

NEWS
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2020
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A7
Local health care providers keeping up to date on coronavirus
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
The Wuhan strain of the
coronavirus may not ever
spread to Umatilla County,
but health offi cials are pre-
pared for it anyway.
The respiratory virus has
mostly been spreading in
China. The National Cen-
ter for Immunization and
Respiratory Diseases said
on Jan. 27 they were moni-
toring more than 100 poten-
tial cases in the United
States. But only 11 of those
cases had been confi rmed
as of Monday afternoon.
Pam Schulz, infection
control program manager
at Good Shepherd Medi-
cal Center in Hermiston,
said anyone coming into
the emergency room with a
fever or respiratory symp-
toms is being screened to see
if they were recently some-
where with reported cases
of the Wuhan coronavirus.
“We ask the question,
‘Have you traveled recently,
and if so, where?’” she said.
If the patient has a cough,
they’re given a mask. If
their symptoms are such that
they can’t handle breathing
through a mask, the staff
puts on masks of their own
and the patient gets “tucked
away” somewhere away
from others in the waiting
room.
The coronavirus is part
of a family of viruses that
range from the common
cold to much more serious
diseases like MERS, the
Middle East Respiratory
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan
A warning affi xed to a mask and hand sanitizer station in the lobby of St. Anthony Hospital
in Pendleton advises people, who have recently traveled outside of the United States, to let
hospital staff know immediately if they are experiencing fever, cough and shortness of breath.
Syndrome that has killed
approximately 35% of peo-
ple who catch it. There is
no cure or vaccine, just
treatment of symptoms.
“You just pay attention
to the symptoms and pro-
tect them and protect your-
self,” Schulz said.
Steve Hardin, emer-
gency room director at St.
Anthony Hospital in Pend-
leton, said hospitals have
received direction that peo-
ple should be tested for
coronavirus only if they
have had a fever or short-
ness of breath in the past 14
days, have not tested pos-
itive for the fl u, and have
either traveled to Wuhan
or had direct contact with a
confi rmed case of the virus
in the past 14 days.
“We have signs up say-
ing, ‘If you have been to
Wuhan, China, in the last
14 days, tell us,’” he said.
Coronaviruses
are
common. According to
WebMD, most people have
gotten a coronavirus before
in the form of a cold. How-
ever, the Wuhan coronavi-
rus has in some cases pre-
sented with more severe
symptoms, such as short-
ness of breath, pneumonia
and kidney failure.
If China’s reporting of
the new strain of the virus,
fi rst reported on Dec. 30,
2019, in Wuhan, is accu-
rate, as of Monday there
had far been more than
17,000 confi rmed cases and
361 deaths there, according
to the New York Times.
That’s a higher mortality
rate than the fl u, but Har-
din pointed out that peo-
ple in the United States are
far more likely to get the
fl u, and the fl u is expected
to kill more people over-
all. The Centers for Dis-
ease Control estimates that
since Oct. 1, 2019, between
8,200 and 20,000 people
have died from the fl u in
the United States.
“Infl uenza is not very
sexy, but it kills a lot of peo-
ple every year,” Hardin said.
He encouraged people
to get vaccinated against
the fl u. Other advice Har-
din and Schulz gave for not
catching or spreading the
fl u is the same advice for
avoiding the Wuhan coro-
navirus and other respi-
ratory viruses: wash your
hands, don’t touch your
face, cover your cough,
avoid sick people, and stay
home if you’re the one who
is sick.
“It’s basic hygiene,”
Schulz said.
Alicia Southwick, direc-
tor of Umatilla County Pub-
lic Health, said the county
health department had been
working closely with the
Oregon Health Authority to
stay up to date with accu-
rate information about the
Wuhan coronavirus and
preventative
measures.
Nicole Breuner from the
health department said she
has been working to dis-
tribute that information to
area health providers.
“As of right now passen-
gers from China are being
screened, which has been
incredibly effective in the
past,” she said.
Breuner and Southwick
also encouraged people
to wash their hands thor-
oughly with soap for at
least 20 seconds, or if that
isn’t possible to use hand
sanitizer that is at least 60%
alcohol.
Breuner said the health
department is there to
support physicians, and
encouraged them to give
her a call at 541-278-5432
if they have any questions.
On Wednesday, Sen. Jeff
Merkley, D-Ore., joined
Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind.,
in sending a letter to the
World Health Organization
to declare a “public health
emergency of international
concern.” The declara-
tion could allow the WHO
to take measures, such
as travel restrictions and
incentivizing aid.
“The WHO neglected to
declare two earlier coro-
navirus epidemics, severe
acute respiratory syn-
drome (SARS) and Middle
East respiratory syndrome
(MERS), as public health
emergencies of interna-
tional concern,” the sen-
ators wrote. “Meanwhile,
according to WHO sta-
tistics, SARS resulted in
813 confi rmed deaths and
MERS resulted in 858.
We hope that this time the
determination will not be
overdue.”
The WHO did declare an
emergency later that day.
The last time it declared
an emergency was in 2019
for an Ebola outbreak in the
Congo.
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