Washington activates highest emergency response for coronavirus
Washington state has raised to Level 1 its emergency response to the novel coronavirus, which has sickened thousands in China and spread to the states last week.
Various health departments from across the area, including King County, Snohomish County and the state Department of Health are working with emergency management teams in an Emergency Operations Center at Camp Murray in Pierce County. Face-to-face contact and going off the same information can benefit a response should one be needed, said Karina Shagren of the Washington Military Department.
“Bottom line, we don’t want people to read into this,” Shagren told The News Tribune on Monday. “When we activate Level 1, it brings us under one roof and helps develop a more efficient response.”
The state has identified eight people with possible infection who are in the process of being tested, said Jamie Nixon of the state Department of Health.
Three University of Washington students were screened for the virus after recently traveling to Wuhan, China, the university announced on Sunday. One of the students lives off-campus, and test results proved negative for the infection. The test results for the two other students, who live on campus, have not been completed.
“These are not confirmed cases,” the university said of the two on-campus students. Both have been moved to isolated housing and are being monitored by Public Health – Seattle & King County.
63 ‘close contacts’ in Washington
There are 63 people in Washington listed as “close contacts,” or those who have been potentially exposed to the virus and being actively monitored by the state, Nixon said.
The virus can cause coughing, fever, difficultly breathing and pneumonia.
Washington announced the first U.S. confirmed case last week. A man in his 30s was diagnosed with coronavirus after traveling from Wuhan in central China. He is being kept at the Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett. Health officials have updated his condition to satisfactory.
It is not unusual for state officials to call for a Level 1 activation, Shagren said. Emergency management teams elevated the activation to Level 1 in responding to the summer 2018 wildfires.
Level 2 includes monitoring of a situation, and Level 3 is routine operations.
Thousands infected in China
China has shut down travel to and from Wuhan in efforts to contain the outbreak. China’s death toll has climbed above 80, with a total of more than 3,000 infected spanning across several countries, including Thailand, South Korea, Japan, Canada and the United States.
Big city airports across the states have begun screening passengers from Wuhan.
There are five confirmed cases in the United States.
For those with questions or concerns about the virus, the the state Department of Health has set a call center at 1-800-525-0127.
This story was originally published January 28, 2020 at 5:35 AM.
