Mecklenburg health officials monitoring 4 travelers from China for possible coronavirus
Mecklenburg County health officials are monitoring four travelers from China who may have been exposed to the deadly novel coronavirus, County Manager Dena Diorio said Friday night.
“Mecklenburg County Public Health has been notified that we will be receiving four of these individuals today,” Diorio said in a statement. “Our Communicable Disease staff have been in contact with them, the appropriate documents for them has been signed by the Health Director and the monitoring has begun.”
Mecklenburg County has no confirmed cases of the virus “at this point,” Diorio said. “It is our intent not to speak to the media or others about those being monitored or investigated.”
The federal government has recommended “self-monitoring with public health supervision” for all travelers returning from mainland China over the past 14 days who were screened at any of 11 airports and found to be symptom-free, North Carolina health officials said in a news release Thursday. Those travelers are being allowed to continue to their final destination.
The exception is Hubei Province, which health officials described as “the epicenter of the outbreak.”
The U.S. government is quarantining all travelers from that province and isolating anyone arriving from China with symptoms, according to the release by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.
“Impacted travelers in North Carolina are receiving written instructions from their local health department on how to monitor for symptoms and limit the potential spread of the infection,” officials said in the release.
State health officials cited privacy protection for refusing to say how many people are self-monitoring and where they live, including the region of the state.
In Diorio’s statement Friday, she said: “Although the individuals coming from the most affected province in China are being routed to locations for 14-day quarantine, others coming from China are being assessed at the airport of arrival and are considered to be at medium risk of developing the infection or infecting others.
“If found to be without symptoms, they are being sent on to their home destination for voluntary quarantine,” she said. “The Health Department in that jurisdiction will be notified, will contact each individual with information and guidance, and will monitor for 14 days from last possible exposure.
“We want to assure that the community has the information it needs to be safe and protect themselves and others,” Diorio said. “There is information on our county homepage that is being updated regularly and at MeckHealth.org.
“However, we want to avoid unwarranted concern,” she said. “Our area is still considered to have a very low risk for this novel virus.”
Diorio said no cases have been confirmed anywhere else in the state.
“We continue to encourage residents that during flu season they practice good hand washing habits, cover your cough and stay home if you are sick,” she said.
