BOISE, Idaho — As California doctors on Friday afternoon confirmed a second unexplained case of the novel coronavirus — meaning a case without risk factors, such as recent travel to China — officials in the Treasure Valley continued to prepare for a possible outbreak in Idaho.
As of Friday afternoon, there are no known cases of coronavirus in Idaho, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still lists the risk to Idahoans as low.
On Feb. 21, the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare launched a new website with information about the virus. According to that site, 14 people in Idaho are still being monitored for signs of the disease, although officials were previously monitoring another 18 that they are no longer concerned about. Two people in Idaho have been tested for the virus, according to the site, which is updated every Friday. Earlier this month, a Boise man who was found dead in his home after a trip to China and India was tested for the coronavirus; results came back negative, according to the Ada County coroner.
More than 80% of cases of the virus, which causes fever, coughing and shortness of breath, are not severe, according to a large Chinese study. The fatality rate is estimated to be about 1.4%, according to a Friday report from the New England Journal of Medicine.
Worldwide, more than 83,000 people have contracted the illness, with deaths topping 2,800, according to the Associated Press.
HEALTH OFFICIALS’ PLANS
Still, authorities in Idaho want to be ready in case someone presents with the virus.
“We’re planning as if it is going to be here,” said Rob Harworth, environmental health director for Central District Health in Boise.
In making those plans, the district built on previous measures it had in place. The district has planned for possible pandemic situations before, Harworth said. That includes sharing resources and information with other entities, such as hospitals, fire departments, and emergency medical services. Preparing for something like a possible coronavirus outbreak is simply a matter of adapting that plan to a specific situation.
“Planning is not something new. … There’s a basic level of planning that’s been done for many years,” Harworth said.
He cited the 2009 H1N1 flu pandemic as a situation similar in some ways to the current coronavirus concern.
One of the entities the district would be responsible for working with is Saint Alphonsus Medical System, whose employees could be the first to identify and treat an Idaho case of the virus. Katy Dudley, the health system’s safety officer, also mentioned the 2009 flu outbreak and said the hospital also has plans in place, and can update them as needed, to adapt to the coronavirus. By mid-January, the health system had a team of people — physicians, staff from clinics, emergency medical managers — meeting regularly to keep abreast of any possible coronavirus developments.
Even before the coronavirus concerns, the health system has always had on-call “infection preventionists” who are charged with keeping up to date on the latest information about the spread of pandemics. Their job is to consider the patient’s symptoms, travel history and other factors to decide if the person presents a “suspect case” of a given illness. If the patient does, Dudley said, the health system officials reach out to the local health district — such as Central District Health — for secondary validation. The system has infection preventionists available 24 hours per day, seven days a week, Dudley said. If the hospital staff is concerned about the spread of an infectious disease — such as tuberculosis or, in this case, coronavirus — they call the infection preventionist.
“I know that sounds somewhat lengthy, but it can happen quite quickly, those conversations,” Dudley said. “I think at this point if they get a call at 2 a.m., they’re fully expecting to respond to coronavirus.”
While Dudley confirmed the health system has gone through the process at least once with a suspect case of coronavirus, she said she could not say how many times it has happened.
In addition to that, all of the system’s four hospitals are equipped with “airborne isolation rooms” — meaning rooms where a patient can receive treatment without possible airborne pathogens spreading into the facility’s main airways. Hospital staff house patients in these rooms if they are presenting with symptoms of any respiratory illness, not just coronavirus. This can drastically cut down on the number of people exposed to the illness.
“We have a number of those rooms in the facilities, so we would be able to accommodate certainly more than one patient in any of our facilities,” Dudley said.
When determining if a person is presenting with a given illness during any pandemic situation, hospital staff ask about whether the person has traveled to affected countries. Nearly 60 countries have had confirmed cases of coronavirus, according to the CDC.
PREPARATIONS ELSEWHERE
City officials in Nampa have convened a group of local experts to prepare for a potential coronavirus outbreak in the city.
The group has representatives from Southwest District Health, St. Luke’s and Saint Alphonsus health systems, Saltzer Health, Terry Reilly Health Services, Primary Health, the Nampa School District, and the Nampa police and fire departments. They met Feb. 11 at the Nampa Civic Center, according to a city news release.
Those who attended reported on their organization’s readiness for a potential outbreak, and ways they could work with other entities to respond. The pandemic response plan comes as the city develops a wider emergency response plan, the release said.
“The city of Nampa is committed to leveraging relationships and resources in order to establish a safe and timely response to emergency situations,” Nampa Mayor Debbie Kling said in the release. “The meeting was a step toward proactive preparedness and provided an opportunity to discuss current systems and processes in place should a pandemic experience occur in our area.”
Micron Inc., too, has taken precautions to prevent the possible spread of coronavirus, as some of the business’ employees travel often.
“Due to the developing coronavirus situation, we have proactively implemented health screenings at our Boise site to ensure the wellness of our teams and visitors,” Mayra Tostado, the company’s crisis and issues communications manager, wrote in an email to the Idaho Press.
Anyone exhibiting a fever, symptoms of respiratory illness or any other symptoms deemed to be associated with coronavirus are prohibited from entering Micron’s Boise site, according to the company’s official statement.
“Micron has not identified any cases testing positive for the novel coronavirus at its facilities, but will continue taking strong precautions as appropriate to ensure the wellness of our team members, contractors and visitors,” according to the statement.
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