Valley’s first coronavirus patient caught it during a cruise. He’s now quarantined at home
A Madera County man was confirmed this week as the first case of the fast-spreading coronavirus in the central San Joaquin Valley after he and his wife returned from a recent trip on a Princess Cruises ship.
Health officials said they believe this is an isolated case and that no others in the area appear to have been exposed to the virus. But, they said, they are being vigilant about the potential for more patients as cases continue to multiply in California and elsewhere in the U.S.
“They were the only people returning to this region from this ship,” Dr. Simon Paul, Madera County’s health officer, said Saturday. “There’s no evidence of community spread in Madera at all.”
Coronavirus has mushroomed around the world after first surfacing in the Wuhan province of China.
“This is now all over the world and we are concerned, too,” said Dr. Bakht Roshan, an infectious diseases specialist at Madera Community Hospital, where the infected man was tested and treated before being released to home quarantine Friday evening. “We don’t want this to spread. But this was an isolated case and not a community transmission.”
The man, whose name, age and city of residence are being kept confidential, is said to be “doing very well” in home quarantine, said Dr. Terrance McGovern, Madera Community’s director of emergency medicine.
The possibility of the region’s first case of coronavirus surfaced Thursday when the state health department, armed with a list of passengers aboard the Princess cruise ship on which people were known to be exposed, called local officials about the couple returning to their home in Madera County.
Extra precautions at hospital
Paul said the couple had been staying at home since the end of their cruise, and when his office reached out to them, the man was already experiencing symptoms, “so we told him to come on in to the hospital.”
Madera Community Hospital’s emergency room had advance notice of the couple’s arrival and was able to take precautions to ensure that no one else would be exposed. “When they showed up, we were able to meet them in the parking lot, put them in masks, and they ended up going through a back door directly to their isolation room,” McGovern said. “They never went through the emergency department’s waiting room, they never came into contact with any of the other patients that we already had there.”
Samples collected Thursday at the hospital and processed Friday at a laboratory in Tulare confirmed that the man tested positive for coronavirus, or COVID-19, Paul said.
Since concerns about coronavirus arose in recent weeks, health officials and hospitals have been bracing for the prospect of receiving patients with the disease. “In the ER we’ve been working with the county trying to establish a protocol for the arrival of the COVID-19 virus,” McGovern said. “We had many things in place already in preparation for this.”
Paul praised the hospital and emergency room staff. “The hospital did an incredible job handling this case,” he said. “There was no exposure to the public and they were isolated immediately. Now he’s recovering at home and we’re keeping a very close eye on him there.”
“We’re hoping there won’t be more cases, but we’re planning with the hospitals and clinics throughout Madera to be prepared and look ahead,” he added. “If there are an increasing number of cases, it’s critical that we start planning ahead for how we test more people, how we manage a larger number of cases.”
Health officials said they did not know which Princess Cruises ship the couple had been on or what its ports of call had been.
The virus, first reported in China, has swept across Asia and is sparking outbreaks in Europe and the United States.
More than 101,000 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed worldwide with more than 3,450 deaths as of March 6, according to Johns Hopkins University.
As of Friday afternoon, the Sacramento region had reported nine cases, including one death. An undisclosed number of people are being quarantined.
Of 14 deaths nationally, 11 have been in the greater Seattle area.
No time to panic
Roshan, the infectious disease specialist at the Madera hospital, cautioned people against overreacting because of the coronavirus in the news.
“Generally whenever something new shows up, people are a little more concerned because they don’t know much about the virus,” Roshan said. Typical symptoms of coronavirus include fever, cough, shortness of breath, or feeling lethargic, Roshan said. But, he added, those symptoms could also be attributable to a seasonal flu or other more common diseases.
“Not everyone with fever should panic or freak out because fever could be due to a lot of reasons,” he said. “It doesn’t mean you have coronavirus. The most important thing is your exposure. If you were on a particular ship, or in a country where this is being reported, then your risk is higher.”
People are feeling more concerned, Roshan added, because reports indicate that COVID-19 tends to be more deadly or serious than influenza. “But 80% of the cases will be mild disease,” he said. “About 15% might need hospitalization, and 5% might be critical. And out of those critical, those who will unfortunately not do well are those with other pre-existing medical conditions.”
Instead of panic, Roshan urged the same caution that’s common to prevent the spread of any cold or flu bug. “We should wash our hands frequently with alcohol soap … and we should cover our mouth when we cough or when we sneeze,” he said. “We should not overreact.”
This story was originally published March 7, 2020 at 1:29 PM.
