MADISON — State health officials are emphasizing a need to be cautious as the number of coronavirus-COVID 19 cases around the world continue to grow rapidly.
"The evidence suggest that COVID-19 cases will continue to increase in the US and internationally and we suspect that the global situation will cross the threshold where it's likely to be considered a pandemic," said Dr. Ryan Westergaard, the state's Chief Medical Officer for Communicable Diseases.
Westergaard spoke to legislators at a briefing in Madison on Wednesday.
"At this moment, there is not evidence that the virus is circulating in Wisconsin communities and the risk to the public is low," said Westergaard.
In Wisconsin, only one person has tested positive for coronavirus and that person is now healthy again. Another person is currently under investigation with a pending test. However, throughout the United States, at least 125 cases of COVID-19 have been reported and in the State of Washington, the virus has killed nine people.
As that number climbs rapidly in the U.S., more than 90,000 cases have been reported worldwide and more than 3,000 people have died. That's why state health officials are responding to this outbreak the same way they would respond to other potential pandemics.
"We have been preparing for this type of situation for more than a decade because of the known risk of pandemic influenza," said Westergaard. "While coronavirus is a different type of virus than influenza, particularly because there's not an effective vaccine at this time and we don't have an effective anti-viral treatment, the basic infection control measures and the community level interventions that we have in our tool kits remain highly applicable."
Jeanne Ayers, a state health officer, said it is up to the entire community to help prevent the spread of the virus here in Wisconsin.
"Virtually everyone has a role to play," said Ayers. "Federal, state and local departments of public health, hospitals, health care providers, long care care facilities, emergency response system and more."
She explained that federal health officials help track conditions and spread of the virus worldwide and often provide much needed guidance to state and local level health departments who work to organize and effectively protect and care for patients and work to prevent the spread of the virus.
She said at this point, the state of Wisconsin is focused on "containment," and preventing COVID-19 from becoming "widespread" here.
Ayers also reminded the public of the importance of hand washing and covering coughs, and reminded people to avoid touching eyes and face and to stay home when ill.
She also suggested the public avoid mass-gatherings and handshaking for the time being.
Meanwhile, health officials are now able to complete COVID-19 testing in state, at the state lab and at the Milwaukee Health Department.
"Having this expanded laboratory capability in Wisconsin provides fast access to the high-quality testing that is necessary and can help make a major difference in our ability to identify cases quickly and control spread," said Ayers.
Dr. Westergaard described COVID-19 as a new type of coronavirus that has a tendency to cause severe lower diseases in the lower respiratory systems. He said coronaviruses are not rare, but COVID-19 had not been identified in humans before. He said the source of the virus, which first spread widely in Wuhan, China back in December 2019, is still unknown.
Westergaard said that other novel coronaviruses similar to COVID-19 are often commonly found in animals.
"For example, the SAARS coronavirus appears to have originated in bats and the MERS coronavirus is transmitted by camels," said Westergaard.
Symptoms include shortness of breath, coughing and fever and the virus can be spread through coughs and sneezes, and by touching surfaces contaminated with the virus and then touching your own nose and mouth.
State health officials say they are fully-prepared to respond if additional COVID-19 cases pop up.
"If and when that happens, we at the Department of Health Services and all of our partners will use the same type of coordinated public health response that was used to successfully contain and prevent onward transmission in other cases," said Westergaard.
