McLennan County has yet to see its first case of the coronavirus, while the number of Texans who tested positive for the disease it causes rapidly rose over the weekend.
Health officials believe the most recent case confirmed Monday in Collin County, north of Dallas, is the first person in Texas to contract the virus within the U.S. The man, who is in his late 30s and was in stable condition at home, recently returned from California when he received a presumptive positive test for the new coronavirus.
But Waco area residents appear not to be panicking about the outbreak, other than to snatch up almost all of the hand sanitizer available in the city limits. Waco-McLennan County Public Health District spokeswoman Kelly Craine said the health district has not received many “panicky” phone calls on its public information line from concerned residents.
Anyone with questions about the new coronavirus and the disease it causes, COVID-19, can call the Public Health Information Line at 750-1890 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Craine said most of the calls the health district has received were from health care providers ensuring they are following the proper protocols for the new coronavirus, but she encouraged anyone with questions to call.
Health care providers that suspect a patient has the coronavirus disease must contact the health district, which has a line open 24/7 to report certain conditions. The public information line is separate from that phone line and is dedicated to answering any questions about the new coronavirus.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s criteria for COVID-19 testing encourages doctors to “use their judgment” when deciding if a patient should be tested, considering factors including travel history and possible close contact with someone who has the disease. The CDC urges doctors to first test for other causes of respiratory illness, including the flu.
But cases of the flu and influenza-like illnesses appear to be on the decline in McLennan County, according to the health district. Flu cases spiked in late December, with about 800 cases reported the last week of the month. For the last week of February, the county reported 282 flu cases.
If patients meet the criteria for testing, then the health district would coordinate testing with their health care providers and send specimens to the CDC or state lab. The health district also would begin contact-tracing, or finding out who the patients came into contact with after they presented symptoms. The patients would take any quarantine or isolation measures necessary, as well.
The health district and local health care providers announced the formation of the McLennan County Leadership Response Team last week. The team will meet weekly to assess the outbreak and plan the local response. The outbreak is caused by a member of the coronavirus family, which is similar to the viruses that led to SARS and MERS outbreaks in the past.
Symptoms of COVID-19 include fever, cough and trouble breathing, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 80% of cases present mild illness, but for some people — older adults and those with preexisting medical conditions or compromised immune systems — the risk and the symptoms are much more severe.
Most people recover from the new virus. According to the World Health Organization, people with mild illness recover in about two weeks, while those with more severe illness may take three to six weeks to recover. In mainland China, where the virus first exploded, more than 80,000 people have been diagnosed and more than 58,000 have recovered so far.
The virus has infected 600 people in the United States, and at least 26 have died, most in Washington state.
In Texas, 12 cases stemmed from travel, all related to a Nile River cruise in Egypt, according to the Department of State Health Services. Harris County has reported six cases, and nearby Fort Bend County reported another six cases.
Another 11 people who caught the COVID-19 disease overseas were quarantined at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio. The patients at the base who tested positive for the new coronavirus have been transferred from quarantine to the Texas Center for Infectious Disease or local hospitals to receive treatment in isolation, the San Antonio Express-News reported.
But Lackland Air Force Base on Monday expected to receive “approximately 90 Texans” who were aboard a cruise ship off the California coast transferred to the base for testing for the coronavirus and the COVID-19 disease it causes, Gov. Greg Abbott said Sunday.
The Grand Princess pulled into the Port of Oakland with more than 3,500 people aboard — 21 confirmed to be infected with the new virus.
U.S. passengers will be flown or bused from the port — chosen for its proximity to an airport and a military base — to bases in California, Texas and Georgia for testing and a 14-day quarantine. The ship is carrying people from 54 countries, and foreigners will be whisked home.