Coronavirus: As US braces for second wave of flu, CDC to test patients for COVID-19
As the US prepares for the second wave of flu, experts from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said they will test individuals with flu-like symptoms for the new coronavirus. Currently, these tests will be done at labs in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and Chicago, and will eventually expand to others.
The experts are taking the five flu surveillance sites and adding on laboratory testing at the public health labs for COVID-19. While the labs currently test for influenza, they will now test the flu-negative specimens for the new virus.
The aim, said CDC, is to leverage existing influenza and viral respiratory surveillance systems, and modify them to be able to detect the new coronavirus. This is an “extra layer of our response” that will help detect if and when COVID-19 is spreading in the community, said CDC experts during a media briefing.
“The CDC has begun working with five public health labs to conduct community-based, influenza-based surveillance so we can test those with flu-like symptoms for novel coronavirus. Those public health labs are in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago and New York City. This is just the starting point and we plan to expand to more sites in the coming weekend until we have national surveillance,” said CDC.
They added: “All of our efforts now are to prevent the sustained spread of the virus. But we need to be prepared for the possibility that it will spread. Results from this surveillance would be an early warning signal to trigger a change in our response strategy.”
According to figures released by the CDC, 15 US cases of the new coronavirus have been confirmed so far. All but two of the cases were in people who had traveled to Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the outbreak. There are more than 600 people still quarantined in the US because of their recent return from the epicenter of the outbreak in China, said experts during the briefing on February 14.
On February 17, American passengers evacuated a cruise ship that had been quarantined for over a week in the Japanese port city of Yokohama. They boarded two chartered flights to the US, and will be subject to a 14-day federal quarantine.
“In general, the CDC guidance is based on risk assessment. “These people (those quarantined) are going through difficult circumstances right now. Being quarantined can be disruptive, frustrating and feel scary, especially when the reason for the quarantine is exposure to a new disease for which there may be limited information. Quarantine is an unusual situation for public health responders too,” said CDC.
The last time the US had to quarantine large groups of people was over 50 years ago. “So while we are doing the best we can, there are going to be bumps along the way,” they added.
As the CDC spoke of potential threats from COVID-19, they reminded that there is a very real threat of seasonal influenza. The experts said reports of influenza-like illness and testing for flu have increased in the past few weeks. While influenza ‘B’ was predominant in December in the US, the CDC has seen a sharp rise in influenza ‘A’ HINI recently, said experts. Hospital rates in children are about as high as the CDC had recorded during the 2017-2018 season, which was a severe season.
So far this season, the CDC estimates that there have been at least 26 million flu illnesses, 250,000 hospitalizations and 14,000 deaths (with some among children) from the flu in the US.
Experts say it is potentially a bad time for an extended flu season, given concerns about the new coronavirus out of China, which can cause symptoms that can be difficult to distinguish from flu without testing.
“We have vaccines and drugs to fight the flu illness. We don’t yet have the tools for the novel coronavirus, but there are things everyone can do to contain the spread of the virus,” said CDC.