NJ Preparing For Coronavirus Outbreak After Dire CDC Warning

NEW JERSEY — New Jersey health officials are preparing after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a dire warning Tuesday, saying communities across the nation should prepare now for the spread of COVID-19, the new coronavirus.

Nancy Messonnier, the director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Disease, told reporters in a conference call the question is no longer if the coronavirus, now officially called COVID-19, will spread across the United States but when that will happen.

Communities, schools and businesses in New Jersey and elsewhere should begin preparing now for “the expectation that this could be bad,” Messonnier said.

“I understand this whole situation may seem overwhelming and that disruption to everyday life may be severe. But these are things that people need to start thinking about now,” she said. “You should think about what you would do for child care if schools or day cares closed.”

To date, no one in New Jersey has tested positive for COVID-19. But state officials say they're preparing for a spread of the disease across the region. Read more: Crewman Dies On NJ Ship Where 27 Tested For Coronavirus (UPDATE)

So far in New Jersey, the Department of Health says it has been focused on ramping up preparedness efforts and coordination with hospital and local health departments since the end of January. The Department of Health’s crisis management meets daily to monitor "this evolving situation," officials said.

The Department of Health has been working with the Governor’s Office, State Police, and the Office of Emergency Management since the onset of coronavirus reports earlier this year to create a "comprehensive preparedness and response plan for New Jersey," the DOH said.

As part of these efforts, the Department of Health has been collaborating closely with hospitals and local health departments on their preparedness plans and to update them on CDC and Department of Health guidance and protocols.

Proactive preparedness efforts include:

• Jan. 28: NJDOH held a conference call with 250 hospitals and local health officials to update them on CDC/DOH guidance and protocols
• Feb. 3: Gov. Phil Murphy appointed the Coronavrius Task Force to coordinate all state efforts to appropriately prepare for and respond to the public health hazard of COVID-19.
• Feb. 6: NJDOH joined hospital CEOs, chief medical officers, and infection control practitioners for a preparedness workshop hosted by the New Jersey Hospital Association.
• On-going: The Coronavirus Task Force appointed by Murphy meets weekly to coordinate all state efforts to prepare for and respond to COVID-19.

The Department of Health also has issued guidance for the management of health care workers, employees and K-12 and university students who may have come in contact with people who have the illness.

The guidance outlines three forms of monitoring based on individuals’ potential public health risk. The guidance is posted on the department’s coronavirus webpage, available at nj.gov/health/coronavirus

The department has recommended that individuals voluntarily self-quarantine for two weeks if they've been in an area where the coronavirus is prevalent, such as Wuhan, China, and should contact their university/health center employer or local health department to arrange for active monitoring.

“Outbreaks like this – when a new virus is emerging to infect people – are always concerning,” New Jersey Health Commissioner Judith M. Persichilli has said. “The situation poses a serious public health threat.”

The New Jersey Public Health and Environmental Laboratories in West Trenton, meanwhile, is ready when a diagnostic test becomes available, said Christopher Neuwirth, assistant commissioner of the Division of Public Health Infrastructure, Laboratories and Emergency Preparedness (PHILEP).

Globally, at least 80,000 people have been infected and 2,700 people have died from the new coronavirus, creating a global pandemic, according to the World Health Organization. It is spreading so quickly overseas that infectious disease experts and scientists warn there may be no way to contain it.

As of Tuesday, 57 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in the United States. Three dozen of the patients in the United States diagnosed with the disease are among passengers repatriated from the Diamond Princess cruise ship quarantined for weeks off the coast of Japan; three patients were infected in Wuhan, China, the center of the outbreak, and the others contracted the virus while traveling abroad.

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a news conference Monday the “sudden increase in new cases” outside of China is “deeply concerning.”

The symptoms of the new coronavirus are similar to seasonal influenza, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine. Both are infectious respiratory illnesses, but they’re caused by different viruses.

Both cause fever, cough, body aches and fatigue, and can result in pneumonia. Both illnesses can sometimes cause vomiting and diarrhea. Both can be spread from person to person by sneezing, coughing or talking.

Common good-health practices such as frequent hand-washing, covering coughs and staying home from work or school during the course of the illness can help control the spread of both illnesses.

Neither responds to antibiotic treatment, but both may be treated by addressing symptoms, such as reducing fever. Both illnesses can be severe enough to require hospitalization.

But there are some distinct differences between the two:

Flu is caused by several different types of viruses, while COVID-19 is caused by the new coronavirus, which is also called severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, or SARS-CoV-2.

Johns Hopkins says there is some evidence COVID-19 could be airborne, “meaning that tiny droplets remaining in the air could cause disease in others even after the ill person is no longer near.”

There is no vaccine to protect against the new coronavirus, as there is against influenza. Scientists around the world are racing to find a vaccine for the new coronavirus, although none currently exists.

A company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has shipped vials of its novel coronavirus vaccine to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease for further research.

Karen Seymour reported for this story