3 new cases of coronavirus confirmed in Northern California; U.S. cases jump to 11

Public health officials confirmed three new cases of coronavirus in Northern California – including an adult woman in Santa Clara County and a husband and wife in San Benito County – bringing the number of cases of the disease in the United States to 11. In California, according to the CDC, six people are now sickened by the virus.

“I understand that people are concerned, but based on what we know today, the risk to general public remains low,” said Sara Cody, the health officer for the Santa Clara County Public Health Department. “A second case is not unexpected. With our large population and the amount of travel to China for both personal and business reasons, we will likely see more cases, including close contacts to our cases.”

The Santa Clara case involves a woman who came there Jan. 23 from the Wuhan area of China to visit her family, Cody said, and except to seek medical treatment, she has isolated herself at her family’s home. Wuhan is where the new coronavirus outbreak originated, and the vast majority of the cases have been diagnosed there and in the surrounding Hubei province.

This is a mild case of the disease, Cody said, and the traveler has only made contact with family members since her arrival. The patient’s family also is currently isolated at their home, the health officer said, and will not be leaving in order to prevent possible spread of the illness.

This patient has no connection to the other case of coronavirus that Santa Clara officials announced Friday. In addition to the two Santa Clara County cases, public health officials also have announced one case in Los Angeles County and another in Orange County.

In San Benito County, officials Sunday told the San Jose Mercury News that a 57-year-old man, who recently traveled to Wuhan, had contracted the illness, and passed it onto his 57-year-old wife, who did not travel, according to a news release.

Both individuals have not left their home since returning from China, according to San Benito County officials.

Public health officials with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have said they expect to see more cases of new coronavirus, a respiratory illness that causes fever, coughing and shortness of breath, as travelers come to the United States from China.

To house individuals who are displaying symptoms, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services asked Pentagon leaders to set aside housing at four U.S. military bases where overseas travelers can be quarantined for 14 days. The U.S. Department of Defense announced Saturday that four bases, including two in California have been selected. They are: Fairfield’s Travis Air Force Base, just 32 miles from Sacramento; Marine Corps Air Station, Miramar, near San Diego; the Army’s Fort Carson, Colorado, 168th Regiment Regional Training Institute; and Lackland Air Force Base, near San Antonio, Texas.

The Pentagon announcement means there could be as many as three military installations in California housing people with the new coronavirus. March Air Reserve Base in Riverside already is housing U.S. government employees evacuated out of Wuhan, China.

Originally, public health officials said the government evacuees would be quarantined for only 72 hours, but they changed that to 14 days after the World Health Organization declared a public health emergency out of concern of the potential spread of the illness. Shortly after the WHO announcement, the U.S. government made a similar declaration in the United States. Three U.S. airlines — American, Delta and United — have suspended service to China.

Pentagon officials said that military personnel and their families will have no contact with the quarantined individuals. Rather, HHS staff or contractors will be take care of caring for them.

As announcement of new U.S. cases trickle in and federal officials open up quarantine sites, Americans have become anxious about the potential for human-to-human transmission. To date, there has been only one such case in the United States, and that individual was the spouse of a Chicago traveler who had returned from the Wuhan area.

Protecting yourself

Still, residents in the Sacramento region have been stocking up on face masks out of a belief that the devices will help them ward off infection. Public health officials note that, although surgical masks provide some protection against spray of bodily fluids, airborne germs can still penetrate through the sides of the mask and into the respiratory system.

No public health agency recommends face masks for public use. Health workers do use N95 respirator masks and other types of face masks for protection, but they have been fitted for the devices and trained in how to use them effectively.

To cope with anxiety, psychologist Lynn Bufka of the American Psychological Association recommended some foundational steps you can take to maintain your emotional stability: Get regular sleep, adequate amounts of physical activity and decent nutrition. You can also seek social support from friends, Bufka said. Sometimes it’s good to checking in with a friends to see whether concerns are realistic, but be careful which one you choose, she said, because sometimes a friend will actually contribute to anxiety.

There are also everyday precautions that people can take to prevent cold and flu, and they’re recommended by the CDC:

▪ Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. If you really can’t get to soap and water, then use a hand sanitizer that has at least 60 percent alcohol.

▪ Can’t wash your hands right away? Avoid touching your mouth, nose and eyes as these are areas where the pathogens can grow.

▪ Do not stand close to people who are sick. That may mean taking the stairs rather than an elevator.

▪ If you take an elevator, try not to touch buttons with your fingers. That’s also true for other objects or surfaces that other people may touch. Clean and disinfect those areas if you can. Otherwise, avoid touching them.

▪ Cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze, either using a tissue or your elbow. Throw used tissues in the trash right away.

▪ If you are sick, stay at home. If you have traveled to China or have been on an international flight with others from Wuhan in the last two weeks, you may wish to seek medical treatment for any symptoms. Call ahead to let them know why you’re coming. They may wish to admit you into an isolated unit.

Investigating the illness

Public health officials still are investigating how and when this new coronavirus spilled over into humans, but that can take months or years to determine. What they do know is that, like severe acute respiratory syndrome and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, this new respiratory virus originated with bats.

So far, data shows that this illness has not been as deadly as either SARS or MERS. About two in every 100 people have died from new coronavirus, according to the reported data. With MERS, 30 to 40 out of every 100 people died and with SARS, the mortality rate was about nine of every 100. Epidemiologists said that, judging by what they know of MERS, they believe the new coronavirus has an incubation period of two to 14 days.

About 300 people have died after contracting new coronavirus, and more than 14,500 cases have been reported since December when the disease leapt into headlines after an outbreak was linked to a market in China. However, researchers at the University of California, Davis, have said that the illness likely had been circulating among a small number of people in China for months — or even years — before this but that those individuals had not sought treatment because they thought they had cold or flu.

Over the last 10 years, UC Davis has been leading a global investigation into coronaviruses and other pathogens that can be transmitted to humans. They have done the work with grant funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development, using community health workers to do surveillance and and sampling on more than 145,000 animals and humans to learn how these diseases get transmitted and how to minimize that risk.

Nearly 75 percent of all new, emerging, or re-emerging diseases affecting humans in this era originate from animals.