CMS Urges Providers to Prep for 2019-nCoV
In QSO 20-09-ALL, CMS noted that healthcare organizations have been told to consider emerging infectious diseases as part of the all-hazards approach to emergency preparedness all healthcare providers have been required to follow since 2016. The memo also notes that the CDC continues to issue information on the 2019-nCoV that began in China at the end of last year and has infected thousands, including more than 600 people who have died.
Novel Coronavirus: What Clinicians Should Know
As of February 4, more than 20,000 cases of infections had been reported, with 98.9% of the cases in China, and the virus had been tied to more than 400 deaths.
Rapidly Spreading Wuhan Coronavirus Could Become Pandemic Soon
As of February 4, the number of 2019-nCoV cases is estimated at 20,701, with 427 deaths and 727 patients considered recovered, according to a dashboard created by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
WHO Declares Wuhan Coronavirus a Public Health Emergency
The CDC confirmed that 2019-nCoV has spread between two people in the U.S. The latest patient is an Illinois resident with no history of travel to Wuhan, but shared a household with a patient diagnosed with the virus on January 21.
Use Past Experience With MERS, Ebola to Prep for Latest Coronavirus
The new virus has been compared to MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV. The CDC says the process for evaluation and the PUI form to report suspected cases remains unchanged from the ones used with MERS-CoV, which was the virus of concern in 2015.