CDC warns coronavirus ‘inevitable’ in US as Florida health officials on lookout

في فبراير 26, 2020

There are no cases in Florida, yet, but health officials warned Tuesday that the spread of the novel coronavirus to the United States was inevitable, even as some experts said that it was no cause for panic in the Sunshine State.“It’s not so much of a question of if this will happen in this country any more but a question of when this will happen,” Nancy Messonnier, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, told a news conference Tuesday.“Disruption to everyday life may be severe,” she said, warning the American public needed to prepare for the possibility that the impact from the virus could be bad, with school closures, cancelled public events and workers forced to stay at home.SUPPORT LOCAL NEWS: Consider subscribing todayCoronavirus already has caused illness and death, and it has sustained person-to-person transmission. That’s two of the three factors for a pandemic, Messonnier said.“As community spread is detected in more and more countries, the world moves closer to meeting the third criteria — worldwide spread of the new virus,” Messonnier said.The World Health Organization said Monday the term pandemic “did not fit the facts,” but experts say it soon could.As of Tuesday, 14 cases have been diagnosed in the United States, in addition to 39 cases among repatriated persons from high-risk settings, for a current total of 53 cases within the United States.The Florida Department of Health is “actively involved in enhanced surveillance for respiratory illness that may be COVID-19,” state health officials said on FDOH’s website. “Epidemiologists will follow up on any suspected cases that meet criteria for COVID-19 to arrange for testing when needed and monitor contacts of any confirmed cases, if they occur.”FDOH says the state agency will communicate regularly with the public and health care providers with updates on the virus.Florida Chamber Foundation Chief Economist Dr. Jerry Parrish says Florida should be “concerned, but not panicked” about the coronavirus’ threats on Florida’s economy, potentially impacting tourism, the cruise industry, imports and exports as well as the manufacturing sector.Sign up for our daily and breaking newsletters″(Monday) the Dow dropped by more than 1,000 points, companies are cutting their GDP forecasts, 30-year mortgages are at an eight-year low, manufacturers are idling their factories because of supply chain issues. All of this is having an effect on Florida’s economy, and it could continue. This is certainly a concern, but it’s not anything to panic about,” Dr. Parrish explained in his latest Florida By The Numbers report.