Coronavirus outbreak: What Mississippi is doing to prepare

There have been no cases of the coronavirus in Mississippi, but state health officials are on alert.

“We do think it is very likely we will have people over to Mississippi who are suspects for the virus or who have the virus,” Dr. Thomas Dobbs, health officer with the Mississippi State Department of Health, said Friday at a press conference at the Mississippi Department of Health in Jackson.

While there have been no cases in Mississippi, MDH, on its website, has issued guidelines for health care providers and hospitals to deal with a case, if necessary.

“It does pose a public health threat and it is something we need to monitor closely,” said Dr. Paul Byers, state epidemiologist, on Friday. “The situation is evolving rapidly.

“We want to make sure the Mississippi public knows we are monitoring this and we are putting into place plans if we do have an individual who has this.”

On Thursday, health officials reported the first U.S. case of person-to-person spread of coronavirus – the sixth confirmed case in the nation. The spread was from spouse to spouse.

Mississippi takes action

Mississippi officials, however, are still taking actions to combat the virus. MDH and Mississippi hospitals are on alert. So far, Mississippi airports have not been called to conduct screenings.

Worldwide, nearly 10,000 confirmed cases and more than 200 deaths have been reported to date, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization. The coronavirus can spread between people through coughed- or sneezed-up droplets that are picked up by hands and left on surfaces.

“It’s a respiratory virus a lot like the flu,” Dobbs said.

The State Department, in a late-evening advisory Thursday, ratcheted up its warning level on China to Level 4 - Do Not Travel, USA TODAY reported.

“Travelers should be prepared for travel restrictions to be put into effect with little or no advance notice,” the state department wrote on its website. “Commercial carriers have reduced or suspended routes to and from China.”

The 2019 Novel Coronavirus was first identified in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, in late December. The virus is thought to originally have spread through animals at a seafood and meat market.

The virus is:

• Spreading rapidly in China
• Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the WHO, said there are 98 cases of coronavirus in 18 countries.
• The U.S. cases are in four states: Two in California, one in Washington, two in Illinois and one in Arizona.

Health officials are still trying to understand the new virus. Coronaviruses can also cause the common cold as well as more serious illnesses like SARS or severe acute respiratory syndrome — a potentially deadly illness that spread around the world in 2003. Its symptoms include:

• Fever
• Cough
• Shortness of breath.

Airports not screening for coronavirus

Federal health officials are taking precautions against the coronavirus, including screening passengers at 20 airports in the U.S. which receive international passengers.

Mississippi airports are not among the 20.

“We’re not a point of entry debarkation (for passengers from China),” said Tom Heanue, executive director of the Hattiesburg-Laurel Regional Airport. “(Customers) have to stop at points of entry where they have (U.S.) Customs — (like) Los Angeles.

“When they had the Ebola virus, they thought it could be spread a little more than this thing and they gave us some guidance — but right now — nothing.”

An official at Jackson-Medgar Wiley Evers International Airport said the airport was not screening either.

According to a statement by Fengwei Bai, University of Southern Mississippi biology associate professor, the CDC has instructions for travelers from China:

• Watch for changes in health for 14 days after leaving the country
• Development of fever, cough or difficulty breathing necessitates a call to the doctor or health care provider to relate symptoms
• Tell of recent travel
• Health care professionals should provide additional steps to take before a medical visit to help reduce the risk of the illness spreading to other people at the hospital or doctor’s office.
• Do not travel if sick.

The Mississippi Health Alert Network — the state’s electronic notification system to health care professionals and hospitals — says it’s unclear how easily the virus can be transmitted from person to person, but it’s possible the number of reported cases and deaths will increase in coming days.

Hospitals prepare

Mississippi hospitals are prepping for possible patients.

At the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, Dr. Bhagyashri Navalkele, medical director of infection protection, said patients who come into the emergency room exhibiting symptoms will be given a routine travel screening.

“We will ask them, ‘Have you traveled outside the United States? Where did you go?’” she said. “’What symptoms are you having?’”

Navalkele said if a patient has been to China, measures will be taken to protect health care workers.

“And the patients — we will isolate them,” she said. “We do have dedicated isolation rooms across the hospital.”

At Merit Health Wesley in Hattiesburg, doctors are on the lookout for coronavirus symptoms, but are also aware other illnesses share the same traits.

“We must keep in mind that fever, cough and difficulty breathing can come from many different infections, not just the Wuhan coronavirus,” said Dr. Daniel Crane said in an email. “If you have not been exposed to someone with the virus or recently visited Wuhan, China — we would not suspect the Wuhan coronavirus.”

Report any case to state

Bai said while the virus is a serious public health threat, he predicts the majority of patients should recover from the infection. He said most of those who have died were older than age 60 or had pre-existing conditions.

Dobbs said it’s important for medical providers to keep the state Department of Health informed if they come across a case of the virus.

“We’re not in every clinic — we’re not in every emergency room,” he said. “When doctors diagnose somebody they need to let us know.

“I would hope we would not have any cases in Mississippi, but realistically, I hope we have our health system prepared to deal with it.”