“We are asking the
American public to prepare in expectation that this will be bad."
By Molly
Glick February 26, 2020
The novel coronavirus will likely spread across U.S.
communities, according to a recent update from the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It is not a question of “if”
but “when” the COVID-19 virus escalates within our borders, Nancy Messonnier,
the CDC’s director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory
Diseases, said during a Tuesday media briefing.
After observing rapid person-to-person spread in South Korea,
Iran, and Italy, CDC officials now expect the trend to reach the United States.
Researchers are currently scrambling to develop effective COVID-19 vaccines and
antiviral drugs; meanwhile, the CDC urges US residents to prepare for possible
containment measures like workplace and school closures, Messonnier said,
depending on the spread’s severity. She also emphasized the importance of frequent hand-washing and
surface disinfection to curtail the virus’ spread.
“We are asking the American
public to prepare in expectation that this will be bad,” Messonnier said.
As of now, only 12 US
states and localities have the resources to test for the novel coronavirus
strain. The CDC can also test samples when notified by state health departments
of potential cases, but some of their test kits have allegedly delivered “inconclusive results.”
Messonnier is optimistic that commercial labs will soon develop tests and ramp
up COVID-19 detection throughout the country.
On Tuesday,
Massachusetts-based biotech company Moderna Therapeutics shipped its first batches of a potential
coronavirus vaccine to the the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious
Diseases (NIAID), Time reported. They expect to begin human testing in April at
the earliest, and approval could take months.
There are currently 59 confirmed U.S. cases,
including 47 individuals brought back from abroad by the State Department. The
World Health Organization (WHO) reported 80,239 global
COVID-19 cases yesterday, 77,780 of which have occurred in China. There have
been 2,700 total deaths, with 2,666 of them occurring within China.
Despite our country’s
comparatively high reliance on private transportation, the virus could still
spread to isolated rural areas, says Lisa Gralinski, a virologist at the UNC
Gillings School of Public Health. She points to COVID-19’s emergence in every
single Chinese province, not solely its urban centers.
“The bigger concern should
be with the people who are more isolated and have a more difficult time getting
to a doctor’s office, that they can become sick,” Gralinski says.
This outbreak is trickier
to manage than the 2002-2003 SARS epidemic, she notes, because the symptoms are
subtler. Many individuals with COVID-19 have gone about their daily routines
when experiencing its milder effects, likely mistaking it for a cold. That
could make containment difficult in the United States as people head to school
and work with only mild sniffles.
The CDC has offered vague warnings that mass gatherings like offices
and schools may experience dropped attendance and a potential burden may fall
on health infrastructure, law enforcement, and transportation. The agency also
claims it’s “working with state, local, tribal, and territorial partners, as
well as public health partners” to combat the public health threat. Besides
such broad statements and a preparation plan, the CDC
has not offered any specifics so far. The CDC did not respond to PopSci’s
request for more information.
Over her 25 years at the
CDC, Messonnier said at the press briefing, the organization has regularly
practiced for such an epidemic within our borders. We already have helpful
infrastructure in place: Existing flu virus surveillance systems could aid
coronavirus containment efforts. Yet rapidly spreading diseases will always
surprise us, she said.
Gralinski hopes that the US
can contain the virus more quickly than China did, though she says there are no
guarantees as to how the contagion might unfold. She recommends that U.S.
residents remain alert and look out for the latest information. There’s no need
to panic, she said, but it doesn’t hurt to make sure you’re stocked up on
nonperishable food and other supplies in case you have to stay home sick or are
advised to avoid public places due to an outbreak.
But Americans shouldn’t
rush to buy supplies like face masks, Gralinksi says, which could trigger
shortages and leave some medical professionals without necessary protective
equipment. On Amazon, face masks now sell for exorbitant
prices. Some of the more effective products—like the N95 respirators
from Honeywell and 3M—are currently sold out. The World Health Organization does not recommend face masks
as a preventative measure for healthy individuals; hand washing is much more
effective.
Amid the global panic,
Gralinski is impressed by China’s quick assistance to medical researchers.
During the SARS epidemic last decade, the Chinese government waited several months to inform the
WHO. This time around, Chinese researchers quickly published
COVID-19’s genomic sequence online in January; therefore, scientists around the
world could rapidly begin the race to develop tests, antiviral drugs, and
vaccines.
“The rate at which the
scientific community has been able to respond is really unprecedented,” she
says.
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