Health officials across the state, including at Baystate Franklin Medical Center in Greenfield, say the best way to ward off the coronavirus — which has not been detected anywhere near Franklin County or Western Massachusetts — is to wash hands often, cover coughs and sneezes, and stay home when feeling sick.
Dr. Angela Martagon Villamil, chief of hospital medicine at Baystate Franklin, said she is not worried about the coronavirus at this point because there are so few cases confirmed in the United States, including one in eastern Massachusetts.
Coronavirus is a respiratory virus generally spread through respiratory secretions, droplets from coughs and sneezes, of an infected person to another person. Symptoms of novel coronavirus include fever, cough, shortness of breath and, in severe cases, pneumonia (fluid in the lungs).
“People shouldn’t travel to China right now,” she said. “And I’d stay away from contact with someone who has traveled from there in the past few weeks.”
Martagon Villamil said the local hospital is screening all patients, asking them, for instance, in the emergency room if they have traveled to China or know anyone who has traveled there. She said the hospital is also asking people to wear masks that are available at stations throughout the hospital.
“We’re doing this not so much for the coronavirus at this point, but for the flu and respiratory syncitial viruses (RSV), which are much more common and of more concern to doctors in this area currently,” she said. “We don’t even know how contagious the coronavirus is.
“If people come in contact with anyone who has cold- or flu-like symptoms, they should stay away,” she continued. “And if they themselves have symptoms, they should stay home from work so they don’t spread it. That’s true for coronavirus, the flu or RSV.”
The 2019 novel coronavirus has resulted in about 24,000 confirmed human infections in more than 20 countries, with 11 in the United States, including one in Massachusetts. More than 99 percent of the cases have been confirmed in China About 500 people have died so far.
“We don’t have a vaccine for coronavirus yet, so I know people have some fear,” she said. “They’re also afraid because we don’t know a lot about it, but I don’t think they need to be afraid, because in most cases it presents like a common cold.”
Martagon Villamil said health officials aren’t yet sure why some people have died, but it could be because those people already had a compromised immune system.
“I just want to emphasize there are very few cases here in the U.S., and only one in Massachusetts,” she said. “I just don’t want to see panic and fear. The medical professionals are much more concerned about other things here in Greenfield, Franklin County and Western Mass.”
The state Department of Public Health says information about how the coronavirus spreads is still limited, but ongoing steps are being taken to ensure the state is prepared to respond if it arrives in larger numbers.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Boston Logan International Airport will be one of 20 airports added to four military airports that will have enhanced screening for passengers arriving from China. The one case in Massachusetts is a student who was traveling, and a second student is being evaluated.
While there haven’t been a lot of confirmed cases across the nation, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar has declared the 2019 novel coronavirus a “public health emergency” and ordered any U.S. citizen returning from the center of the outbreak in China to be quarantined for two weeks. Azar’s declaration was followed by another by the World Health Organization that the coronavirus outbreak is a “public health emergency of international concern.”
The Department of Public Health has established an incident command structure to disseminate information from federal and state partners to stakeholders on a regular basis, and it has launched a new website, mass.gov/2019coronavirus, to provide information.
“Our priority is protecting public health as we work with our state and federal partners to provide the most up-to-date information and guidance to our residents,” state Public Health Commissioner Monica Bharel said. “We understand that this new virus is causing public concern, but I want to reassure people that at this time, the risk to Massachusetts residents remains low.”
While the CDC enhances its screening of passengers who have traveled from China, U. S. Customs and Border Patrol will conduct passive screenings for signs of illness of all passengers entering the United States.
Logan International Airport has three daily nonstop flights from China: Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. It does not have any flights originating in Wuhan or Hubei Province, where the coronavirus is believed to have originated. The U.S. government has limited arrivals from China to a handful of airports, so plans for Logan could change in the future.
Reach Anita Fritz at
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