The Health Unit says the risk of someone in Grey Bruce getting Coronavirus related to an outbreak in Wuhan, China remains low.
Medical Officer of Health Dr. Ian Arra says, “We continue to reassess the health risk as new information becomes available.”
“At this point to anyone who is sick in Grey Bruce I would say 'You're not sick with Coronavirus at this point,” says Arra.
In the meantime, Arra says do the same things you would do to avoid the flu. “Hand washing frequently, thoroughly with soap and water, using proper cough hygiene (don't cough on your hands, cough into your elbow) staying home if one is sick.” He also notes you shouldn't touch your face unnecessarily.
“Although we do them every day, it would make sense to up the frequency of these things because they are effective in reducing the transmission of the disease,” says Arra.
So far, it appears the Coronavirus is carried in droplets like sneezes or if someone touches their nose and then touches a surface.
Coronavirus are a large family of viruses that cause respiratory illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases including viral pneumonia.
He says the Health Unit is actively monitoring the situation with provincial and national health agencies, stakeholders and community agencies. Doctors, hospitals and labs are required to report diseases caused by novel Coronavirus to the medical officer of health.
Arra explains how a risk level is assessed, “It's really related to certain properties of the virus itself,” says Arra who says it depends on how infectious the disease is, the incubation period, and if people affect others while asymptomatic.
He says health officials like to err on the side of caution and assume the worst until they know more about a virus.
In Canada, there are currently three known cases, two in Toronto and a presumptive case in BC.
Arra says Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that cause respiratory illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases including viral pneumonia.
He notes, if something like the coronavirus were to spread into the area, our hospitals in Grey Bruce have isolation rooms if anyone were to contract a virus like this one.
Arra says dealing with a virus is a process health officials are familiar with around the world. He notes they learned a lot from SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) which came out of Asia in 2002. It killed over 700 people and saw over 8,000 cases. By 2004, there were no more reported cases.
Since SARS, Arra says, “We've refined our protocols to a fine art and I feel very confident in the ability of our healthcare system and public health system to respond to such an issue.”
Meanwhile, the Health Unit says residents who have returned from recent international travel and become ill with respiratory symptoms such as a cough and fever should report their travel history to any health professional, or any emergency room, before they visit.
Call Telehealth Ontario at 1-866-797-0000 for questions specific to an individual health concern.
Arra says, “The signs and symptoms are similar to the common cold, could be as severe as pneumonia, fever, cough, feeling unwell, shortness of breath…the caveat that would trigger a person to go to their healthcare provider, to the emergency, is contact with somebody who is a potential case or coming back from international travel from a specific area that is infected and coming back to Grey Bruce and developing these symptoms.”
Arra says most deaths related to coronavirus are among those over the age of 50.
“There have been cases a bit younger but that's not the norm,” says Arra noting almost all of them had other diseases, “Whether it's cancer or heart disease or athsma.”
He says so far, Coronavirus seems less fatal than SARS. “SARS had a fatality rate of around ten per cent. This one with the numbers at hand, it's way less, maybe around two (per cent)”
As the numbers change, he says they'll know more.
More information about coronavirus is available at:
https://www.ontario.ca/page/wuhan-novel-coronavirus-2019-ncov