CDC ‘waited 4 DAYS to test unknown origin coronavirus patient’ because they hadn’t traveled overseas
THE Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reportedly waited four days to test an unknown origin coronavirus patient because they hadn’t traveled overseas.
The California coronavirus patient, who is believed to be the first US case from “unknown” exposure, wasn’t tested immediately because they “did not fit the existing CDC criteria” for COVID-19.
According to an email sent to UC Davis Medical Center hospital employees, and obtained by CBS 12, the patient was transferred from another Northern California hospital on February 19.
But four days passed before the CDC took notice of the patient – who arrived on a ventilator, needing special protection orders “because of an undiagnosed and suspected viral condition” – and urged them to be tested for COVID-19.
Dr. David Lubarsky, the CEO of University of California, Davis, Health, and the hospital’s interim CEO, Brad Simmons, emailed a memo to hospital employees on Wednesday.
The staff memo read: “Upon admission, our team asked public health officials if this case could be COVID-19.
“We requested COVID-19 testing by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“Since the patient did not fit the existing CDC criteria for COVID-19, a test was not immediately administered.”
The email also stated: “This is not the first COVID-19 patient we have treated, and because of the precautions we have had in place since this patient’s arrival, we believe there has been minimal potential for exposure here at UC Davis Medical Center.”
Despite the hospital claiming the minimal potential for exposure, some medical center employees were requested to stay at home and watch their symptoms.
The person in California — who hasn’t traveled to a country where a known outbreak is happening or has any connection to coronavirus patients — was reported by federal health officials.
Officials say the infected person lives in Solano County and is getting medical care in Sacramento County.
They’re working to figure out who the person has been in contact with, but didn’t release any other information.
The diagnosis marks the 60th confirmed case of coronavirus in the U.S.
Others who were diagnosed had traveled from aboard or had been in close contact with others who traveled abroad.
The report comes as California officials get ready for a potential community spread of the virus.
Director of the California Department of Public Health and State Public Health Officer, Dr. Sonia Angell, said: “We have been anticipating the potential for such a case in the U.S., and given our close familial, social and business relationships with China, it is not unexpected that the first case in the U.S. would be in California.”
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Earlier this week, the CDC acknowledged the scale of the global pandemic right here on American soil amid more confirmed cases in the Middle East, Asia and Europe.
The disease first surfaced in the Chinese city of Wuhan, in the Hubei province, in December.
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