Maryland health officials work to identify others at risk of coronavirus infection
Coronavirus in Maryland: Three Montgomery County residents contracted the virus
(about 1 hour later)
Maryland officials said Friday that they have launched a broad search for individuals who may have been exposed to the novel coronavirus by one of three Montgomery County residents who have been diagnosed with the virus.
(Update: Maryland health officials work to identify others at risk of coronavirus infection)
All three — a husband and wife in their 70s and a woman in her 50s — were on a cruise overseas and returned to Maryland on Feb. 20, officials have said. They experienced flu-like symptoms shortly after arriving home, and they sought medical treatment.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan said Thursday that three people from Montgomery County have been diagnosed with the coronavirus: a husband and wife in their 70s and a woman in her 50s.
But they were not tested for covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, for nearly two weeks, because at the time of their return, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended tests only for people who had been traveling in China, Montgomery County Health Officer Travis Gayles said. Officials declined to say where the three had been traveling but said they did not meet those testing guidelines.
Hogan (R) declared a state of emergency to speed the delivery of funding and other resources to address the virus. So far, no cases of the coronavirus have been diagnosed in Virginia or the District.
The three patients are “in good condition,” Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) said Thursday night. They are quarantined in their homes in the county, a large and affluent suburb of about 1 million people just outside Washington. The woman is not related to the couple.
The three patients contracted the virus while traveling overseas and are “in good condition,” Hogan said. They are quarantined in their homes in the county, a large and affluent suburb of about 1 million people just outside Washington. The woman is not related to the couple.
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“We have been actively preparing for this situation over the last several weeks across all levels of government,” Hogan said. “I encourage all Marylanders . . . to take this seriously and to stay informed as we continue to provide updates.”
At a news conference Friday morning, Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich (D) urged residents to stay calm and said the state and county had been working for weeks to prepare for a possible outbreak.
As of Thursday morning, 31 Maryland residents had been tested for the coronavirus. Seventeen of the tests were negative, according to the Maryland Department of Health’s website page that is tracking the virus. The rest were pending.
“There is no reason to panic,” Elrich said. “Life as you know it should continue pretty much as it was.”
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Gayles said there is no reason at this point to consider any widespread closures of schools, offices or other institutions in the county. Rather, he said, people who feel sick should stay home, and everyone should take basic precautions like washing their hands using hand sanitizer, and avoiding contact with those who are ill.
At a news conference at the State House in Annapolis, Hogan urged residents to remain calm. “While today’s news may seem overwhelming, this is not a reason to panic,” Hogan said. “Marylanders should go to school and work, just as they normally do.”
Hogan has declared a state of emergency to speed the delivery of funding and other resources to address the virus.
Fran Phillips, Maryland’s deputy secretary for public health, said the three people returned to Maryland from the same overseas trip on Feb. 20. Officials declined to specify where they had traveled. Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich (D) said he was told by an aide to Hogan that the individuals were on a cruise.
As of Friday morning, 41 Maryland residents had been tested for the coronavirus. Twenty-six of the tests were negative, according to the Maryland Department of Health. Twelve were pending. The only three positive tests were the Montgomery County residents.
Travis Gayles, the county’s health officer, said the individuals sought medical attention “fairly immediately” after returning home. But their travel had not involved China, the only country at that time that had been flagged as a place that should trigger testing for the virus.
No cases of the coronavirus have been diagnosed in Virginia or the District.
So, they were not tested upon their return, Gayles said.
Maryland officials said the state contacted the three Montgomery County patients earlier this week, after learning from the CDC that they were on a trip that included exposure to the coronavirus.
This week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention learned that people on the trip that the Montgomery County residents had taken may have been exposed to the coronavirus. The residents were contacted by the state’s health department and were told they should be tested.
Deputy health secretary Fran Phillips said the victims were able to bring themselves to a hospital Wednesday, wearing “protective precautions.” Specimens were collected and they returned home, where they remained in quarantine as of Thursday evening.
The three patients “were out and about because their travel wasn’t flagged,” Hogan spokesman Mike Ricci said. The investigation will look at their comings and goings, “where they went and who they interacted with.”
They were each mildly to moderately ill, and their symptoms are abating, Phillips said.
Phillips said the three had “flu-like” symptoms but that none was seriously ill. They were able to bring themselves to a hospital Wednesday, and they arrived wearing “protective precautions.”
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Specimens were collected and they returned home. They were each mildly to moderately ill, and their symptoms are abating, Phillips said.
State and county health officials are trying to determine who else may have been exposed in the days between the victims’ arrival home and when they were tested. They want to clarify exactly where the victims were, “how they came back here and what they’ve been doing since they’ve been back,” Elrich said.
Maryland received the results Thursday. State and county health officials and the CDC are conducting a broad investigation of the cases, in part to determine who else may have been exposed in the days between the victims’ arrival home and when they were tested.
Gayles said state investigators have conducted in-depth interviews with all three patients, known as “contact tracing.” In general, such interviews are conducted either over the phone or in-person, with the investigators wearing protective gear.
“We want to understand all of the activity, all of the comings and goings of these individuals.” Phillips said. “They have been extraordinarily cooperative. We want to understand the period of time when they returned from travel and when they had symptoms ... We want to understand where they went and who they interacted with, in order that we can conduct this investigation.”
Officials try to map out where a person traveled to before being quarantined, who they came into contact with, and what that “quality of interaction” was, Gayles said, taking into account factors like whether they were physically proximate and whether they hugged or shared food.
The patients are not believed to have had any contact with children, she said. Montgomery County Public Schools said Thursday night that schools would be open as usual on Friday.
Each person who had contact with a coronavirus victim is then assigned a risk level, and depending on that assessment, health officials may then decide to do another level of contact tracing.
Elrich is holding a news conference Friday morning that will be live-streamed at montgomerycountymd.gov and on Facebook.
State and local officials have released very few details about the Montgomery County patients. Hogan spokesman Michael Ricci said he “can’t stress this enough: the patients have asked for privacy. We have to balance that against providing the information necessary to protect public health.”
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All three individuals had limited their external interaction leading up to their quarantine because they were not feeling well, Gayles said. They had not been to work, for example. It was not immediately clear how many additional people were considered at-risk and assigned for follow-up contact. The patients are not believed to have had significant contact with children, officials said.
For weeks, elected officials in the region have been meeting with their public health departments, emergency management teams and top lieutenants in anticipation of what many said was the inevitability of confirmed cases of the disease.
The county’s health department has activated an emergency command center in Silver Spring, Gayles said. Essential personnel will gather at this center, which typically serves as a conference room, to coordinate efforts with the state.
As medical professionals prepared for the possibility, they made sure they had plenty of masks and other protective equipment for first responders and others who would be on the front lines of caring for patients.
Thirty-one Virginia residents have been tested for coronavirus as of Friday, including 21 whose tests came back negative and 10 that are pending. Three of the pending cases are in Northern Virginia. Nine D.C. residents have been tested; eight tests came back negative, while one is pending.
Twenty-one Virginia residents had been tested as of Thursday, including 18 whose tests came back negative and three that are pending. None of the pending cases are in Northern Virginia. Eight D.C. residents have been tested; six tests came back negative, while two are pending.
About 70 miles west of Washington, Wakefield Country Day School near Huntly, VA, kept its 132 students home Thursday and Friday as a precaution after a group of students and adults recently visited Italy, France and Switzerland for five days.
About 70 miles west of Washington, Wakefield Country Day School near Huntly, Va., kept its 132 students home Thursday and Friday as a precaution after a group of students and adults recently visited Italy, France and Switzerland.
The school was on winter break last week, then students who traveled to Europe stayed home this week before officials closed the school for two days. No students have shown signs of illness.
The school was on winter break last week, then students who traveled to Europe stayed home this week before officials closed the school for two days. The group departed Feb. 20 and returned five days days later. No students have shown signs of illness.
Head of School Jessica Andrus Lindstrom said by the time the school reopens Monday, students who went to Europe will have been away for the 14-day quarantine period recommended by the CDC.
Head of school Jessica Andrus Lindstrom said by the time the school reopens Monday, students who went to Europe will have been away for the 14-day quarantine period recommended by the CDC.
In Maryland, the General Assembly has fast-tracked a request from Hogan to access $50 million from the state’s rainy day fund to deal with the coronavirus. The Senate unanimously approved the request on Friday, and the House was expected to vote later in the day. Hogan also submitted a supplemental budget request for fiscal 2021 that would allocate $10 million in emergency expenses to prepare for the coronavirus.
In Maryland, the General Assembly has fast-tracked a request from the governor to access $50 million from the state’s rainy day fund to deal with the coronavirus. The legislation was advanced by the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee on Thursday and is pending in the House Appropriations Committee. It will be considered by the full Senate on Friday.
Attorney General Brian E. Frosh (D) issued a warning to Maryland residents about scams involving the virus. Frosh said scammers are setting up websites to sell “bogus health products that claim to prevent or cure covid-19.” They are also sending fake emails, texts and social media posts to steal money and personal information, posing as the CDC and the World Health Organization.
Hogan also submitted a supplemental budget request for fiscal 2021 that would allocate $10 million in emergency expenses to prepare for the coronavirus. Part of the spending would be used to purchase equipment for rapid diagnosis, additional staff for investigations and providing services for quarantined individuals, including food and medicine.
Frosh recommended that residents contact his office’s Consumer Protection Division or reporting it to WHO.
The state’s health department and the Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems are coordinating on surge planning, including ambulance rerouting plans, suspension of voluntary hospital admissions and enhanced medical monitoring for homebound patients with mild to moderate symptoms.
As members of Congress prepare their Capitol Hill offices for the possibility of having to work from home for weeks on end, Reps. Gerald E. Connolly (D-Va.), Jennifer Wexton (D-Va.) and John Sarbanes (D-Md.) on Thursday introduced legislation to expand telework across the federal government.
The bill would prohibit agencies from making across-the-board cuts to telework availability, require agencies to notify Congress about and justify any plans to restrict telework, and ensure that agencies to report on cost savings derived from telework.
Lawmakers also want the Office of Personnel Management to establish guidelines for agencies on how to set goals for and report cost savings of telework.
How the virus spread in New York: From a man to his family. Then a neighbor. Then friends.
How the virus spread in New York: From a man to his family. Then a neighbor. Then friends.
Anxiety about the global coronavirus outbreak has made health care a top concern for many Maryland residents, according to a Gonzales poll released late Wednesday.
Anxiety about the global coronavirus outbreak has catapulted health care to become a top concern for many Maryland residents, according to a poll released late Wednesday.
In Montgomery County on Friday morning, Judy Black, 67, was one of a string of people who stopped by a Bethesda CVS to grab some hand sanitizer — to no avail.
Since January, the number of residents who described health care as their top concern tripled to 17 percent, the Gonzales poll found, second only to the percentage of people who are most worried about crime.
Black said the CVS along Old Georgetown Road was the only one in the area whose website suggested it had the product in stock. But when she got to aisle 12, they were already out. She picked up the store’s last few bottles of antibacterial soap instead, then shared them with others in the checkout line who had come for the same thing.
Fears over the threat of covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, fueled the change, pollster Patrick E. Gonzales said.
“It’s a difficult situation,” Black, a special-education teacher, said of the spread of the coronavirus in general. Teachers don’t have enough hand sanitizer to help keep their students’ hands clean.
The Montgomery County Council received a briefing Tuesday on preparation efforts in the county.
“My dentist was out of it. I’m trying to get one for my friend who is a teacher,” she said. “It’s not panic, but it’s very difficult to be conscious and cautious and not create panic.”
“From what we heard, the county is as prepared as it can be under the circumstances,” said County Council member Gabe Albornoz (D-At Large), chair of the council’s health committee.
Black said she is reconsidering her travel plans for the spring, as are many others she has talked with. “A lot of people are wondering whether they should take their kids anywhere for spring break,” she said.
Council Vice President Tom Hucker (D-District 5) said he was particularly concerned about exposing the county’s large immigrant population to the virus.
There was a steady stream of customers at the counter of Bethesda Bagels, where Danny Fleishman, the small chain’s president, said so far business remains good.
“We have a very diverse population of undocumented residents who have understandable fears now of interacting with government agencies,” said Hucker, whose district includes densely populated Silver Spring.
“It’s a little scary from a business standpoint. You never know what’s going to happen,” he said. Weekends tend to be busy, he said. “We’ll see what happens tomorrow.”
He cited the recent public charge rule, which advocates say has made some immigrant families fearful of seeking medical care. “It’s very important that these folks know in Montgomery, they’re safe, and they should seek medical attention right away if they have symptoms,” he said.
Fleischman said he and his employees are doubling up on hand-washing and other safety measures. “In a couple of weeks, who knows? But we’re just taking it day by day,” he said.
Erin Cox and Dana Hedgpeth contributed to this report.
In Annapolis, where hundreds of advocates and lobbyists mingle daily in the State House, Senate President Bill Ferguson distributed talking points senators could use to help constituents stay calm.
“At this time, the risk of disruption and panic is greater than the risk of infection itself,” said Ferguson (D-Baltimore City). He encouraged senators to “model best practices,” and not to spread unverified information.
“Be smart. Do the things we should do for the common cold or the flu. Cough into your elbow. Wash your hands,” he said. “Wipe down your computer, wipe down your cellphone. These are common sense things.”
Ferguson said the General Assembly, which is supposed to remain in session through April 6, has not adjourned early since the Civil War.
“There is no reason whatsoever to think this year will be in any way different,” he said. “Please be smart, be models, and rely on trusted sources.”
Correction: An earlier photo caption misidentified the official speaking with President Trump in Bethesda. It is Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Rachel Chason, Erin Cox, Dana Hedgpeth and Steve Thompson contributed to this report.
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