(INDIANAPOLIS) – Indiana is keeping tabs on 26 Hoosiers who recently returned from China, to make sure they haven’t contracted coronavirus.
State health commissioner Kristina Box emphasizes the people being monitored show no symptoms and there’s no reason to believe they’ve been infected — it’s just a precaution due to their overseas travel. She says those people have “self-quarantined” in their homes. County health officials are checking in with them daily to see if they’re experiencing any symptoms. So far, none is.
The state will stop monitoring them once they’ve gone two weeks with no sign of the virus. An additional 34 travelers have already been cleared. Box says three of those 34 did have symptoms, but tests showed it was an unrelated bug.
Box says the state has instituted the same preparedness plan it used over the last decade for outbreaks of bird flu and the MERS virus, conducting weekly webinars and reaching out to hospitals and local health departments. If Indiana starts to see cases of coronavirus being transmitted from person to person, rather than contracted overseas, Box says the state would issue further recommendations, urging people to stay away from others until they recover.
Box says staying home if you’re sick is a good idea anyway, along with frequent hand-washing.
A coronavirus is a broad class of viruses which includes MERS and others, but the current outbreak is a new strain with a different genetic makeup. While its symptoms are similar to flu, Box says it’s too soon to know whether it will prove to be a seasonal illness like flu. And while products like Tamiflu can lessen flu symptoms, Box says there’s no such treatment for the virus — it just has to run its course.
Coronavirus is five-to-10 times deadlier than flu, though that still means it’s fatal in just 2% of all cases. Box says 80% of the cases have been mild.
