Missouri governor announces first positive coronavirus case in St. Louis County
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson said the state has its first positive case of the novel coronavirus, which has continued to spread across the United States.
Officials explained the case in St. Louis County is considered “presumptive positive” because the test used has not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. The specimen, conducted by the Missouri State Public Health Laboratory, has been forwarded to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to be verified.
The case, St. Louis County Executive Sam Page said, is “highly likely that it comes back confirmed.”
Parson, who made the announcement along with Page during a news conference Saturday night in Clayton, said the patient is a woman in her 20s.
The St. Louis County woman, who attends an out-of-state college, had been studying abroad in Italy prior to arriving home earlier this week, Page said.
The woman, who had a fever and respiratory issues, called the hotline set up by the county health department and received instructions, Page said. She was tested for COVID-19 at Mercy Hospital in St. Louis.
The woman is currently in isolation at her home with family members, who have also been in isolation.
As of Saturday, Parson said, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services has tested 26 people for COVID-19, including the young woman. Three additional tests remain in progress.
Page directed residents to visit the CDC’s website at www.cdc.gov/coronavirus or the St. Louis County website at stlcorona.com for more information.
News of the virus in Missouri came hours after Kansas confirmed its first case of the new disease in Johnson County, where a woman under 50 is reported to have the virus.
No cases have been confirmed in Kansas City, where Mayor Quinton Lucas released a joint statement Saturday night with the city’s health director and emergency medical services director following news of the coronavirus in Kansas and Missouri.
“While we do not yet have confirmed cases in Kansas City, we know we may have them in the future,” the statement said. “Our Health Department is leading our preparation and is working closely with several other city health departments across the nation. Additionally, cities and counties across our state are working together to share information and we will keep working with our regional partners to keep the public safe.”
Worldwide, the virus has infected more than 100,000 people and has killed more than 3,400 people. It emerged in more than 90 countries and has edged into more U.S. states, including Florida, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Minnesota and Nebraska. As of Saturday, the death toll from the coronavirus has climbed to 19 in the United States, with all but three of the victims in Washington state.
Preventing illness
From the beginning, public health officials worried that people would panic when the virus hit close to home.
Without a vaccine available yet, you are a good line of defense in controlling the spread of the virus in communities, officials say.
The CDC calls them non-pharmaceutical interventions — NPIs, those things, other than taking medicine, people can do to help slow the spread.
Mostly, these are the same steps the CDC recommends for preventing the spread of the flu and the common cold.
▪ it can’t be said often enough: Wash your hands. Scrub them with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. One way to keep track: Sing “Happy Birthday” twice.
▪ Use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer if soap and water are not available.
▪ Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when you cough or sneeze, or direct it into the crook of your elbow instead of into your hand. Don’t just let those sneezes fly. If you sneeze into a tissue, throw it away, then wash your hands.
▪ Avoid touching your face — your eyes, nose and mouth. Be aware of this. You might surprise yourself how often you do this.
▪ Avoid sick people, and stay home when you are sick, which experts know won’t be possible for everyone.
▪ Keep your environment clean. Wipe down door handles, counters, workstations, phones and other surfaces that are touched frequently, especially if someone gets sick. Experts say the virus can be killed by most household cleaners and, for now, there’s no reason to go above and beyond routine cleaning, the CDC says.
The CDC currently advises businesses to encourage sick employees to stay home. It also recommends that employees who show up with signs of an acute respiratory illness — they’re coughing or short of breath — or who get sick at work “be separated from other employees and be sent home immediately.”
The CDC also recommends that businesses not require employees to get a doctor’s note to validate their illness or return to work because health care providers “may be extremely busy and not able to provide such documentation in a timely way.”
Prepare an emergency plan
If you don’t already have one, create an emergency plan for your family.
The Department of Homeland Security has a suggested plan posted on its “pandemic” web page, which recommends that before a pandemic is declared you:
▪ Check to make sure you have a “continuous supply” of your prescription drugs. There are concerns that the outbreak might make supplies of medical products and drugs — for both humans and animals — hard to come by, especially those made with ingredients that come from China, the epicenter of the emergency. The Food and Drug Administration is working with manufacturers to mitigate shortages.
▪ Make sure you have nonprescription drugs and other health supplies ready, including cough and cold medicines, vitamins and pain relievers.
The CDC also recommends asking your employer if it’s possible to work from home if schools and day cares should shut down. If that’s not possible, talk to other family members, neighbors and others to make alternative child care plans. State health officials have said they will leave decisions to close schools up to local authorities.
No masks, for now
Health officials say there’s no reason for people who aren’t sick to wear a mask, for now. Consider: When you’re at the doctor or urgent care, it’s the coughing patients who are asked to wear a mask, not the well people.
At this point, “the CDC does not recommend that the general public go around wearing masks,” said Hawkinson.
In fact, the U.S. surgeon general has said as much.
“Seriously people — STOP BUYING MASKS!” surgeon general Jerome M. Adams tweeted. “They are NOT effective in preventing general public from catching #Coronavirus, but if health care providers can’t get them to care for sick patients, it puts them and our communities at risk!”
Includes reporting from the Associated Press.
This story was originally published March 7, 2020 at 8:42 PM.
