2019 Novel Coronavirus Declared a Public Health Emergency

The World Health Orga­ni­za­tion declared a glob­al emer­gency on Thurs­day and Fri­day the White House declared a U.S. pub­lic health emer­gency as the coro­n­avirus out­break has spread world­wide. Human-to-human trans­mis­sion of the virus was also con­firmed in the U.S. this week. The out­break orig­i­nat­ed in Decem­ber 2019, in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, Chi­na. Since then, the virus has rapid­ly spread across the globe.

While there are no cas­es in our coun­ty, San Juan Coun­ty Health & Com­mu­ni­ty Ser­vices is work­ing close­ly with the local med­ical provider com­mu­ni­ty and with the Depart­ment of Health to assess poten­tial cas­es and cur­rent risk. They are also pro­vid­ing guid­ance and resources as the glob­al epi­dem­ic and under­stand­ing of the virus rapid­ly change.

A web­page has been set up on the San Juan Coun­ty web­site for the pub­lic to access up-to-date infor­ma­tion on the epi­dem­ic, as well as tools and resources for providers.

The best ways to pro­tect against this and oth­er virus­es are to wash your hands often, cov­er your cough, and stay home when ill. Addi­tion­al­ly, pub­lic health offi­cials urge peo­ple to get a sea­son­al flu vac­cine if they haven’t already, as flu cas­es are also increas­ing and symp­toms can look sim­i­lar to nov­el coronavirus.

  If you are expe­ri­enc­ing fever and a cough or short­ness of breath, AND you have either trav­eled from Hubei Province, Chi­na with­in the last 14 days, or have had close con­tact with a con­firmed case, con­tact your health care provider imme­di­ate­ly. Indi­vid­u­als who sus­pect they may have been exposed and have devel­oped symp­toms should CALL their health care provider before going to seek med­ical atten­tion, so the health care provider can take appro­pri­ate pre­cau­tions to pre­vent fur­ther spread of the virus.

Addi­tion­al Info…

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