If you end up at a Pennsylvania hospital with a fever and bad cough, you’re likely to hear this question: Have you been to China?
If you say yes, you’ll probably be handed a face mask.
The Pennsylvania Department of Health has advised health care providers to be on the lookout for a new coronavirus, the newest one to show an ability to jump from animals to people. It’s blamed for killing at least 17 people in China.
As of Thursday afternoon, the outbreak had sickened more than 540 people in China and was raising fears of global spread.
The Pennsylvania health department has forwarded information to hospitals and health care providers, alerting them of symptoms, and directing them to obtain a travel history from those showing possible symptoms.
They are further advising hospitals to provide face masks to those with possible symptoms, continue the examination in a separate area, and immediately notify the health department.
Health department spokesman Nate Wardle on Thursday said the present threat is “extremely low” for Pennsylvanians who haven’t traveled to China or had contact with people who had been there.
“At this point it is increased awareness, increased preparation,” Wardle said Thursday afternoon. “This is nothing we don’t exercise for and prepare for on a regular basis.”
So far, cases are mostly confined to several Chinese cities and nearby Asian countries including Japan. There has been one known case in the United States, involving a resident of the state of Washington who had returned from China. He was reportedly in the hospital and doing well on Thursday.
With its proven ability to spread among humans, it’s raising fears of global spread.
The coronavirus family is responsible for the common cold. But it’s also responsible for more severe illnesses that have caused major alarm in the past, including severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, and Middle East respiratory syndrome, or MERS.
The common symptoms include fever and cough. In severe cases, it can cause problems including pneumonia, kidney failure and death.
In China, protective face masks have been selling out at highly inflated prices.
To try to stop the spread, several Chinese cities have imposed travel restrictions and shut down train service.
At U.S. airports, people arriving on international flights and showing certain symptoms are being screened.