Pierce County ready for coronavirus outbreak as officials calm nervous public, fight stigma
If the coronavirus that has killed more than 2,200 people in China makes its way to Pierce County, those who would battle it say they are ready.
“We’re doing a lot of work behind the scenes in Pierce County,” said Kim Steele-Peter with the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department (TPCHD).
Steele-Peter and her team in the department’s infectious disease division have been monitoring healthy people who have recently returned to Pierce County from trips to mainland China.
TPCHD is also taking phone calls from both the public and health care providers.
“People are very concerned,” Steele-Peter said. “Most of what it is, is reassuring them, calming them down. The risk in Washington remains low.”
The department is also doing what it can to correct misconceptions and a growing stigma around the disease. That’s not an easy given the increasing number of cases and spread to other countries. South Korea’s cases doubled on Saturday to 346, according to The Guardian newspaper.
“We’re getting calls from the public. ‘Should I go to my doctor because they’re Korean and they’re just back from a trip?’ That’s hard to hear,” Steele-Peter said.
She recently attended a health fair where a young boy asked her if he was going to die from the disease.
“That’s really hard to hear — a young child internalizing that fear,” she said.
Monitoring travelers
Out of an abundance of caution, TPCHD officials said they are monitoring travelers who recently returned to Pierce County from China. Their names were provided to the department by federal sources via the state health department, Steele-Parker said.
Those people, health officials repeatedly emphasized, are not displaying any symptoms of the coronavirus, now called Covid-19.
“We’re talking to them about what symptoms to watch for and finding out when they left mainland China,” Steele-Peter said. “They can call us 24 hours a day if symptoms start.”
If any of those people, who number less than 20, were to develop a fever or other symptoms associated with Covid-19, TPCHD would coordinate treatment.
In addition, TPCHD is asking them to stay away from work for the 14 days following their departure from China, Steele-Peter said.
“We are not requiring that they stay in their homes and never leave it,” Steele-Peter said. “We just ask that they practice common sense. Not going to a hospital or a place with a large group of people.”
Travel to and from China has decreased following the outbreak.
“We have seen fewer travelers come back to Pierce County,” she said Thursday.
As of Friday, 793 people were being monitored statewide, according to the state Department of Health. Along with travelers, that number included close contacts of laboratory confirmed cases.
Hospitals, colleges, JBLM make preparations
In Pierce County, hospitals and other providers are working closely with TPCHD, the state Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to coordinate prevention efforts.
Tacoma’s St. Joseph Medical Center and other local hospitals already have protocols and training in place for infectious diseases.
“We manage infectious disease on a regular basis and adhere to policies in place for this purpose,” CHI Franciscan spokesman Cary Evans said Friday in a response regarding preparations for a Covid-19 outbreak. “We have the necessary supplies and are prepared to identify, isolate and treat any potential patient who seeks care in our facilities.”
At MultiCare’s Tacoma General Hospital staff members are ready to respond to any patient who might have been exposed to the virus, said spokeswoman Marce Edwards.
“Following CDC guidance, we have developed screening protocols for all areas and reviewed them with staff,” Edwards said. “We also have increased our supplies of protective equipment and ensured that they are ready for use.”
MultiCare’s multi-step plan includes universal screening at facility entries and moving infected patients to isolated areas.
Year-round preparation for infectious diseases is also standard at Madigan Army Medical Center at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, a spokesman said Friday. Information regarding specifics for Covid-19 was not immediately available, a spokeswoman said, but was being prepared.
Pierce County colleges and universities, all of which have international students enrolled, also are monitoring the outbreak closely and coordinating efforts with each other, said Tacoma Community College spokeswoman Tamyra Howser.
“We have also reached out to our International students and offered our support,” Howser said. “TCC is following the lead of the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department, and their primary message is the risk to the public is low.”
Staying healthy
The Covid-19 outbreak is an opportunity to remind the public that Influenza remains a bigger threat in Pierce County than the new coronavirus, Steele-Peter said.
Twelve people, including two children, have died from the flu since October, according to health department statistics. The actual number might be higher.
“We have a vaccine for the flu,” Steele-Peter said. “We don’t have a vaccine for Covid-19.”
The hygiene habits health officials recommend for protecting yourself from the common cold and flu will go a long way to prevent coronavirus transmission as well, Steele-Peter said.
However, not all viruses operate in the same manner. The highly contagious measles virus can stay alive for up to two hours on a surface, for example.
A prime preventive measure is to avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth if you’ve touched any public or shared surface (door knobs, ATM buttons, gas pumps, etc.) since you last washed your hands.
Other good year-round practices include regular hand washing, sneezing or coughing into an elbow or tissue instead of your hands.
Stay away from work if you’re sick.
“Our co-workers would really appreciate it if we didn’t come in to work when we are sick,” Steele-Peter said.
The same advice goes for schools, she said.
“If you’re sick, don’t go to school,” she said.
The CDC does not recommend face masks for people who are not ill. Instead, they should be used by health care workers and those who are ill.
How contagious is it?
More than 76,000 cases of Covid-19 have been reported around the world, the vast majority in China where the virus first appeared in December in Wuhan.
Scientists are still assessing how contagious Covid-19 is compared with other viruses. Reports label it as “highly contagious,” and anecdotes such as the cruise ship recently on lock down in Japan suggest that. An Olympia woman who was a passenger on that ship has tested positive for the virus. She is currently in isolation in California.
If Covid-19 does make its way to the United States, it might require social adjustments.
“The CDC’s federal guidelines is that people practice social distancing — that social bubble, that personal space,” Steele-Peter said. “For this particular virus they are recommending six feet.”
That space could be less if you’re walking past someone or more if you’re sitting near someone.
Symptoms of the disease include fever, cough and shortness of breath, according to the CDC.
Washington has had only one confirmed case of Covid-19 — a Snohomish County man who had recently returned from mainland China and also was the first known case in the United States. He has since fully recovered, according to the Everett Herald.
Four patients with the disease are being treated at Spokane’s Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center, according to The Spokesman-Review. They arrived Thursday from California for treatment in a specialized, isolated unit at the hospital.
Covid-19 hotline
The state Department of Health has a call center for questions from the public regarding the current situation in Washington, how the virus is spread and what to do if symptoms appear. Call 800-525-0127 and press #.
This story was originally published February 23, 2020 at 7:00 AM.
