Updates: What to know about coronavirus in California as patient is treated in Sacramento
The Sacramento Bee has lifted its paywall on coverage of this developing story, providing critical information to our readers. To support vital reporting such as this, consider a digital subscription to sacbee.com.
»» What to know about coronavirus in California: Find more updates here.
Health officials learned Wednesday that a Solano County resident receiving care at UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento tested positive for coronavirus, representing the first confirmed case of the virus in the U.S. that is of unknown origin.
State public health officials cited the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in reporting the case as the first person-to-person transmission of the coronavirus, known officially as COVID-19. The individual “had no known exposure to the virus through travel or close contact with a known infected individual,” the California Department of Public Health said in a news release.
A copy of an internal memo sent to employees shortly before 10 p.m. Wednesday, obtained by The Sacramento Bee and other news publications and later released publicly by the university, indicated that the patient was being treated at UC Davis Medical Center, following confirmation from state health officials that a patient was receiving treatment within Sacramento County.
The memo to hospital staffers, signed by two top officials with the UC Davis Health system, said the patient was admitted to the hospital Feb. 19. Medical staff requested that the CDC test for COVID-19 in the patient, “since neither Sacramento County nor CDPH is doing testing for coronavirus at this time,” the memo said.
The CDC ordered the coronavirus test Sunday, four days after admission to the hospital, and results revealed Wednesday that the patient had tested positive for the potentially deadly disease.
The memo also said a “small number” of workers have been asked to self-isolate after being exposed to the patient, who was reportedly transferred from a hospital in Vacaville, in the week before the test results came back positive.
Here’s a brief rundown of what we know about the current state of the coronavirus and its spread globally.
▪ A map of confirmed COVID-19 cases, maintained by Johns Hopkins University, shows more than 82,500 cases of the coronavirus as of Thursday morning. The vast majority, more than 78,000, have been reported in mainland China, followed by about 1,800 cases in South Korea and more than 500 in Italy.
▪ More than 2,800 fatalities have been reported worldwide, with about 2,640 of those deaths reported in the Hubei province of China, according to Johns Hopkins.
▪ According to the CDC, the novel coronavirus was first detected in Wuhan in the Hubei province of China. It has since spread to at least 37 locations worldwide. The outbreak of COVID-19 was declared a public health emergency of international concern by the World Health Organization on Jan. 30.
▪ Symptoms including fever, cough and shortness of breath, according to the CDC. Those symptoms have been known to appear anywhere between two to 14 days after exposure. The symptoms can range from mild to severe, with fatalities reported mainly in older and more vulnerable populations.
▪ The United States has had 60 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, as of Thursday morning, with no deaths reported.
UC Davis student tested, university says
A student living in one of the dorms at the UC Davis main campus is being tested for COVID-19 away from campus, the university said in a news release Thursday.
Two other students from the same dorm have isolated themselves as a precaution but have not shown symptoms and are therefore not being tested as of now, the university said. The three students were all residing at Kearney Hall, according to the university’s statement.
UC Davis, as well as other schools from K-12 to community colleges to four-year universities, says it currently has no plans to cancel classes or modify schedules at this time, though some school districts as well as Sacramento State announced plans to suspend some study abroad programs and/or school trips.
One student each from American River College and Cosumnes River College are believed to have been exposed to the Solano County resident before that patient was diagnosed with coronavirus at UC Davis Medical Center, the Los Rios Community College District announced. These two students were medical professionals, the community college district said, and they have been instructed to self-quarantine for 14 days out of an abundance of caution.
Solano County emergency
Solano County on Thursday joined other California counties in declaring a state of emergency over the coronavirus. The county’s public health officer said officials there were taking the situation seriously to protect the health and safety of residents.
San Diego County, Santa Clara County, San Francisco and most recently Orange County have each made emergency declarations in response to the coronavirus outbreak.
Gov. Gavin Newsom had not, as of Thursday morning, declared a statewide health emergency.
Health officials stressed the risk to Solano County residents remained low, but enacted the emergency declaration to ratchet up its response to the virus and its ability to call upon local, state and federal agencies for help.
Sacramento businesses, merchandise affected
Workers at capital-region business large and small have seen relatively small impacts to day-to-day operations, but are bracing in case things get worse.
Local retailers, such as Getta Clue clothing store co-owner Jason Balbao in downtown Sacramento, told The Bee on Thursday that they had already been dealing with delayed shipments from overseas, and are now expecting those issues to worsen over the next few months.
Rancho Cordova-based VSP Global says it has “paused international business travel,” according to a human resources officer. The company’s eyeglass factory in Folsom, which partners with manufacturers in Asia, says it is “still assessing the impact to our supply chain,” according to spokesman Jace Duval.
33 cases in California, Newsom says
There have now been 33 cases of COVID-19 confirmed in California, but five of those people have since moved out of the state, Gov. Gavin Newsom said during a Thursday morning press conference.
That figure also includes 24 people who were brought to California on repatriation flights, according to Dr. Sonia Angell, director of the state Department of Public Health. Those two dozen include evacuees from outbreaks reported earlier in the month in Wuhan, China and from the Diamond Princess cruise ship off of Japan; the evacuees were placed under quarantine upon arrival to California.
The remaining nine currently in California are made up of seven cases believed to be travel-related, one that was transmitted by a spouse and the Solano County patient for which the origin is unknown, according to the Department of Public Health.
Newsom said he does not believe a statewide emergency declaration due to the coronavirus is necessary at this time. However, he said the state currently only has a few hundred kits to test for coronavirus, which he called “simply inadequate.”
Angell said during the press conference that “risk to the general public remains low” in California.
“In the event that changes, we will communicate that with you,” Angell said.
How many cases have been confirmed in California?
The Department of Public Health says that the most recent case represents the ninth case of COVID-19 in California that has been confirmed by CDC lab testing as of Wednesday. About 200 people have been tested so far in the state.
In addition to the patient at UC Davis Medical Center, there are seven confirmed cases that are travel-related and one attributed to “person-to-person exposure,” state public health officials said.
This latter case involved exposure between spouses in San Benito County, “one of whom traveled to China and one who did not,” the Department of Public Health said in a Feb. 2 news release.
There have been no confirmed cases of person-to-person exposure reported in the general public in California outside of this close household instance in San Benito, the news release said, though the origin of the Solano County resident’s exposure remains unknown.
Where has the coronavirus been detected in California?
In addition to the Solano County resident being treated in Sacramento, confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been reported by public health officials in Los Angeles, Humboldt, Sacramento, San Benito and Santa Clara counties.
UC San Diego Medical Center has also treated two patients who tested positive for the coronavirus after being evacuated from Wuhan, but have since fully recovered and have been discharged, officials said in statements. The San Diego hospital discharged the second patient Monday.
What’s happening at Travis Air Force Base?
Travis Air Force Base has housed scores of evacuees who were flown from mainland China this month. A few hundred Americans, many of them government employees on work trips, returned to the U.S. and were ordered into mandatory 14-day quarantines.
Batches of these evacuees began the two-week quarantine orders on Feb. 5 and Feb. 7, and were kept isolated from the general public and from Air Force personnel at the on-base hotel, the Westwind Inn. Another round came mid-February, when American evacuees from the Diamond Princess cruise ship off of Japan were flown to Travis or to Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland in Texas, according to the CDC.
The federal government has said that those at the base who test positive for COVID-19 must leave, which has introduced the conflict of where those people should go.
How can you limit spread of the virus?
The virus is thought to spread from person-to-person, between people in close contact (about 6 feet) of one another, according to the CDC.
It is spread by “respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes,” which can transmit via air into mouths or noses, or be inhaled into the lungs.
“People are thought to be most contagious when they are most symptomatic (the sickest),” the CDC says in a situation summary, but spread may be possible in people before they show symptoms.
Tips and facts about coronavirus
The CDC’s main recommendations to limit exposure to coronavirus are to:
▪ get a flu shot,
▪ take everyday preventive actions such as washing hands to stop the spread of germs, and
▪ avoid touching one’s face.
CDC advises those who are sick with COVID-19 or suspect they are infected with the virus to:
▪ self-quarantine themselves in their home, except for medical care, and avoid public transportation;
▪ wear a facemask;
▪ cover coughs and sneezes;
▪ avoid sharing personal household items; and
▪ clean “high-touch” surfaces around the house every day.
For more on the coronavirus impact in Northern California:
▪ First US coronavirus case of unknown origin tied to Solano County. 5 things to know
▪ Face mask prices are skyrocketing on Amazon. Do they protect you from coronavirus?
▪ To combat coronavirus, these doctors are helping Sacramento’s Chinese community on WeChat
▪ It’s time to prepare for a coronavirus outbreak in the U.S., CDC says. Here’s how
Listen to our daily briefing:
