As NYC reports suspected coronavirus case, Nassau and Suffolk monitor risk

One person in New York City, who recently traveled to Italy, is the latest suspected case of coronavirus in the state, the city's health department said Thursday, as Long Island counties continued to monitor people who could have been exposed.

A Nassau County resident suspected to have been exposed to coronavirus has tested negative, county health officials said Thursday, as the number of local people being monitored decreased slightly.

There are 109 people on Long Island — 79 from Nassau and 30 from Suffolk — being monitored, down from 112 on Wednesday. Those people who have been asked to isolate themselves had either recently traveled to China, where the COVID-19 virus outbreak first surfaced about two months ago, or had been in contact with someone who was confirmed with the virus, officials said.

In a tweet, New York City Health Commissioner Oxiris Barbot said the federal government’s decision to expand COVID-19 testing to people recently traveling from Iran, Italy, Japan and South Korea will “help us cast a wider net to detect the virus.”

“Viruses don’t respect borders,” she said.

The state has received the names of about 700 individuals, outside of New York City, for potential monitoring, state health officials said.

“To date, Nassau County has tested six individuals for the virus and all six have tested negative,” County Executive Laura Curran said in a statement. “Nassau County continues to be in close procedural coordination with State and Federal partners in order to ensure the health and safety of all residents.”

Suffolk County Health Commissioner Gregson Pigott said there have been no suspected cases in that county to date.

The virus has sickened more than 82,000 people and killed more than 2,700 people around the globe, according to the World Health Organization. There are 59 confirmed cases in the United States.

There are no confirmed cases in New York State, although hundreds of people are voluntarily following quarantine protocols, since they might have been exposed to the virus.

Even though they are not showing symptoms and have not been tested, the people being monitored are considered to have “potential exposure” and are asked to isolate themselves from the general public and their families, as a precaution, for two weeks, according to federal guidelines.

Curran said residents being monitored “have been outstanding” in following protocols set by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Monitoring and prevention

Government officials and medical experts have said there's no reason for alarm while urging people to follow common-sense steps to avoid exposure to viruses.

Health officials in the Long Island region said the 14-day monitoring begins from the time a person has left the affected area or was last in contact with an individual who was confirmed to have COVID-19.

“The individual under voluntary home isolation is restricted to stay within six feet of their property border, and it is requested that they have as few visitors as possible,” Suffolk County health officials told Newsday in an email.

Staffers from both county health departments check in with individuals on a daily basis via phone, text or video conference to see if they have a fever or respiratory symptoms such as cough and shortness of breath.

State Health Department officials pointed out that the number of people listed for potential monitoring changes on a daily basis and that not all 700 referred to the agency from outside New York City have needed to voluntarily self-isolate for a period of time.

People who traveled to Hubei Province — considered the epicenter of the outbreak — or who are considered high risk, are part of the federal government’s more restrictive and mandatory quarantine program.

The goal is to try and stem the spread of the COVID-19 in the United States while simultaneously preparing for an uptick in cases. Aside from government agencies, medical care providers have been preparing for the possibility of treating coronavirus patients.

Long Island readiness

NYU Winthrop Hospital is ready if the coronavirus hits Long Island, said Dr. Bruce Polsky, chairman of the Department of Medicine at the Mineola hospital.

"We've been engaged in preparedness since the first case was reported in China," he said. "We have a team of infectious disease professionals and critical care specialists who are ready to treat a patient and immediately isolate them."

Polsky added that patients at NYU Langone, the Manhattan-based health system that operates hospitals in the region including Winthrop, can use NYU's virtual urgent care to initiate care using an app or desktop computer.

Northwell Health facilities have protocols in place to quickly identify potential infectious patients, said Dr. Mark Jarrett, senior vice president and chief quality officer.

"We are working toward surge capacity, which means we have the ability to absorb a lot of patients with the coronavirus and not have it impact the rest of the hospital," Jarrett said.

While the flu season appears to have peaked — lab-confirmed cases in New York State have dropped in the last two week — emergency rooms are still busy with people who have fever and flu-like symptoms.

"We've also had patients coming in because their employer wants them cleared before returning to work," said Dr. Christopher Raio, chief of emergency medicine at Catholic Health Services. “Hopefully that leads to people practicing better hygiene, including washing their hands and cleaning surfaces, which will cut down on other infections, too."

Spreading prevention message

Some local schools have sent letters home to parents promising to remain vigilant about concerns regarding the potential spread of coronavirus.

Plainview-Old Bethpage school district Superintendent Lorna Lewis told parents in a letter Feb. 3 that the district would be installing more hand sanitizers throughout the K-12 district’s seven school buildings. She said health teachers would be addressing the importance of hand-washing to reduce the spread of germs.

This week, some districts sent out another round of correspondence addressing fears from parents following the latest warnings from top CDC officials.

Port Washington Superintendent Michael J. Hynes said the district has asked parents and families who recently traveled to China, other Asian countries or parts of Europe such as Spain and Italy, to contact their child’s school principal and central administration.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which oversees the Long Island Rail Road, city subways and buses, said Thursday it is posting health tips in English, Chinese, Spanish, Russian and Korean across 3,600 subway screens, 2,000 bus screens and at 84 subway station street entrances as well as the LIRR.

MTA chairman Patrick Foye told reporters Wednesday that the agency is "very closely" following the development of the coronavirus with health officials and that the CDC has increased its supply of protective masks, but declined to say how they could be used.