EARH practitioner provides view on Wuhan coronavirus

East Adams Rural Healthcare nurse practitioner Julie Trofibio provided her perspective on the Wuhan coronavirus that originated in China and has spread across the globe, including in Washington state, at the Adams County Public Hospital District No. 2 board meeting on Jan. 22.

The coronavirus was identified in Wuhan, the capital of the Hubei province in China and the country’s seventh-largest city with a population of more than 11 million people. In December, cases displaying the symptoms of a “pneumonia of unknown cause” were linked to a live animal and seafood market in the city.

At first, Chinese health officials stated that many of the patients at the early stages of the outbreak had some link to the market, suggesting animal-to-person spread. Since then, however, a growing number of patients have reportedly not been exposed to the market, indicating that person-to-person spread is occurring.

As of Jan. 28, there have been 4,610 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in China, with 106 deaths. There have been five confirmed cases in the United States, with the first reported case coming on Jan. 21 less than 200 miles from Adams County, when a Snohomish County man in his 30s was diagnosed with the virus.

The Washington State Department of Health said in a Jan. 21 news release that it has been working with the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the Snohomish Health District to identify and contact those who may have come in contact with the man.

In a Jan. 28 news release, the DOH said they have identified eight people across the state who are under investigation for possibly being infected and are undergoing the process of being tested. The current number of close contacts is 63, which is the number of people who have potentially been exposed to the virus.

At the board meeting, Trofibio said that the coronavirus “is the same thing, with a different name, as flu-like symptoms.” She said that the publicity of the virus should serve as a reminder for people to be vigilant when it comes to washing hands, covering mouths and wearing facemasks.

Trofibio was asked if the coronavirus was more severe than the flu. She said she doesn’t think it’s any worse than the flu, but that like the flu it will have a greater effect on younger and older people.

“We have to remember that in China and Asia, they are so overpopulated that their lungs are already compromised by the amount of pollution that they have and things like that,” said Trofibio. “And they don’t have modern medicine as much as we do. They use more holistic things over there, so that may be a concern of how so many people have died.”