Minnesota experts: It’s time families plan for COVID-19 outbreak
So far, there are a few dozen confirmed cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, in the United States.
But Minnesota Department of Health infectious disease director Kris Ehresmann said it’s very likely there will be outbreaks of the virus here. And Michael Osterholm, an expert in infectious disease at the University of Minnesota, said people should assume the virus will hit hard.
Ehresmann said Monday that the state is well prepared to identify cases quickly and isolate them. But if cases are widespread, it’s likely that schools, churches and other public meeting spaces would be closed.
I’d think universities are gonna be a hot spot.
Lots of Chinese students in the US schools and people in close contact in dorms and classrooms.
Bahrain shut 3 schools after a man who had transported children to the institutions tested positive after returning from Iran on February 21 via Dubai airport, the health ministry said.
https://www.rappler.com/world/regions/middle-east/252625-more-middle-east-nations-report-coronavirus-cases?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1582593826
Also, from your link....
...Osterholm said there need to be plans for keeping basic infrastructure like electricity flowing and food supplies on store shelves if large numbers of people are sick. And families also need to have a plan.
“Families need to have plans for how they will stay in contact with each other,” he said. “Who’s going to take care of Grandma if she gets sick? For single parent families, who’s going to be there when the kids get sick or the or the mom or dad gets sick? That’s the kind of thing right now that is really important that we need to begin to address, and you know we haven’t.”
Ehresmann said there are some simple but important things everyone can do to reduce the spread of a virus: Stay home when you’re sick. Limit physical contact like handshakes.
And she said everyone should think about what they would need to care for sick family members at home.
“Just to make sure that you know you have some basic resources, in terms of foodstuffs and things like that,” she said. “So that if you would have family members get sick and you were unable to go out for a few days, do you have enough basic supplies to kind of keep going?”
Ehresmann and Osterholm both said no one should panic, but everyone should prepare....