Coronavirus: Illinois Should Plan Now For Pandemic

ILLINOIS — Communities, schools and businesses in Illinois and across the country should begin preparing now for the new coronavirus disease, officially called COVID-19, a top official for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

It’s only a matter of time before the new coronavirus spreads to communities across the United States, including Illinois, a top Centers for Disease Control and Prevention official warned Tuesday.

Illinois has already started taking steps to prepare for the disease to spread and was the first state to begin doing in-state coronavirus testing. Earlier this month, the CDC authorized the Illinois Department of Public Health to continue to provide in-state testing for the new coronavirus. Chicago's O'Hare airport also was one of the first five international airports in the U.S. to conduct coronavirus screenings.

Illinois has established hotlines for residents concerned about COVID-19. Residents outside Chicago can call the hotline with general questions about at 800-889-3931 or email DPH.SICK@illinois.gov. The number for Chicago residents is 312-746-4835 Monday through Friday during business hours and 311 during evenings, weekends and holidays; they can also email coronavirus@chicago.gov.

But Illinois also had the second confirmed coronavirus case in the country, and the first case of the virus spreading from person to person when a Chicago woman who had traveled to China became sick, passing the illness to her husband.

The woman and her husband were released from a suburban hospital earlier this month and have also been released from home isolation.

So far in Illinois, 66 other "persons under investigation" of having coronavirus have been tested, with negative results.

Virus expected to spread across U.S.

Dr. Nancy Messonnier, the director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Disease, told reporters in a conference call the question is no longer if the coronavirus will spread across the United States but when that will happen.

Communities, schools and businesses in Illinois and elsewhere should begin preparing now for "the expectation that this could be bad," Messonnier said.

"I understand this whole situation may seem overwhelming and that disruption to everyday life may be severe. But these are things that people need to start thinking about now," she said. "You should think about what you would do for child care if schools or day cares closed."

Related: Easy Ways To Avoid Getting Sick This Season

Globally, at least 80,000 people have been infected and 2,700 people have died from the new coronavirus, creating a global pandemic, according to the World Health Organization. It is spreading so quickly overseas that infectious disease experts and scientists warn there may be no way to contain it.

The CDC said Monday that 53 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in the United States. Three dozen of the patients are among passengers repatriated from the Diamond Princess cruise ship quarantined for weeks off the coast of Japan; three patients were infected in Wuhan, China, the center of the outbreak, and the others contracted the virus while traveling abroad.

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a news conference Monday the "sudden increase in new cases" outside of China is "deeply concerning."

Flu vs. the new coronavirus

The symptoms of the new coronavirus are similar to seasonal influenza, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine. Both are infectious respiratory illnesses, but they're caused by different viruses.

Both cause fever, cough, body aches and fatigue, and both can result in pneumonia. Both illnesses can sometimes cause vomiting and diarrhea and can be spread from person to person by sneezing, coughing or talking.

Common good-health practices such as frequent hand-washing, covering coughs and staying home from work or school during the course of the illness can help control the spread of both illnesses.

Neither responds to antibiotic treatment, but both may be treated by addressing symptoms, such as reducing fever. Both illnesses can be severe enough to require hospitalization.

But there are some distinct differences between the two:

Flu is caused by several different types of viruses, while COVID-19 is caused by the new coronavirus, which is also called severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, or SARS-CoV-2.

Johns Hopkins says there is some evidence COVID-19 could be airborne, "meaning that tiny droplets remaining in the air could cause disease in others even after the ill person is no longer near."

There is no vaccine to protect against the new coronavirus, as there is against influenza. Scientists around the world are racing to find a vaccine for the new coronavirus, although none currently exists.

A company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has shipped vials of its novel coronavirus vaccine to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease for further research.