As of March 3, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported 80 cases from 13 states as confirmed novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases. While the CDC regularly updates confirmed cases of COVID-19, the number of confirmed cases is increasing.
Idaho currently has no reported cases despite the growing number of individuals confirmed to have the COVID-19 in nearby states like Washington and Oregon.
Administrators at the University of Idaho are closely monitoring the situation, while many in the community worry about a possible outbreak.
The Infectious Disease Response Protocol
On Feb. 28 Blaine Eckles, the dean of students, sent out an email detailing information on the Infectious Disease Response Protocol (IDRP) and ways students can care for themselves if they are concerned about catching the coronavirus. Emily Tuschhoff, the director of health promotion at Vandal Health Education, said the current plan was created after a mumps outbreak at UI in 2014.
“(The mumps outbreak) was pretty different than. this now,” Tuschhoff said. “We knew we had a case on campus, and it was impacting other people. There wasn’t necessarily a worldwide impact. So, the conversations were a lot different.”
Tuschhoff said the Infectious Disease Response Team is currently discussing plans on how the university will react if there’s a COVID-19 outbreak at UI. The team is currently focusing on addressing travel, school closures, cleanliness standards, community and campus concern, and campus and community response, Tuschhoff said.
“We’ve got a large group of individuals from across campus health services, recreation, Housing and Residence Life, emergency, all the way to facilities,” Eckles said. “We’ve broken it into several groups of the larger committee.”
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The committee is currently working on an FAQ to post on the university’s homepage. It is planned to be posted within the next few weeks, Eckles said.
In addition, Eckles said he is planning on sending a campus wide email by the end of the second week of March. It will provide information about travel as students prepare to leave for spring break. While UI will not limit students, staff or faculty from traveling, Eckles said they do encourage individuals planning trips to look at information from the CDC and be mindful.
“If you’re going to travel internationally you might be able to get out of the country fine, but the United States might make some changes that prevent your ability to get back,” Eckles said.
What is it?
According to the CDC, the virus that causes COVID-19 is just one of the seven strains of coronavirus. Other strains cause the common cold, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) among other diseases. “(People) have heard of SARS and now they’ve heard of this one. You may not have heard of any other coronaviruses,” Tanya Miura, a UI biology professor, said. “But the first coronaviruses were discovered in humans in the ’60s, and they cause common colds. A lot of the time you get a common cold, sometimes it’s going to be a coronavirus.”
Miura has been studying coronaviruses for 16 years. She said COVID-
19 is a disease caused by a coronavirus strain which the scientific community is calling SARS-CoV-2 for the similarity it has to SARS. This is a novel coronavirus, meaning it has never been seen in humans before.
“It hasn’t been in human populations before — that we know of,” Miura said. “It looks very similar to current viruses… but it’s not as similar to the other human coronaviruses that cause common colds that circulate and have always been in our populations. So, we don’t have any immunity against them.”
COVID-19 is similar to other forms of coronavirus diseases such as SARS and MERS. Like the viruses that cause these diseases, the novel coronavirus originated from bats, according to the CDC. However, it is not exactly the same.
“It’s different from the first outbreak of SARS or the SARS disease. It is less severe, but it transmits very easily,” Miura said.
According to the CDC, COVID-19 is spread through close contact of people. The virus spreads through droplets when a person coughs or sneezes, or by contact with surfaces and objects that have been infected. While the virus spreads easily, Miura said she does not believe it will be a major concern.
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“When it first started spreading they noticed it because people were dying, but they later found out that a lot of people are infected and are spreading it without getting sick,” Miura said. “As people are screened more for it, I think we’re going to see there’s a lot of people that are infected that aren’t showing signs, so they aren’t getting sick. And so, the mortality rate will probably be fairly low.”
According to the CDC, some common symptoms of COVID-19 include fever, cough, shortness of breath and may appear anywhere from two to 14 days after infection.
“It’s not as severe as people are fearing. It tends to be worse in older adults and people with chronic diseases. So, they’re already at reduced immunity or reduced lung function,” Miura said. “But for the general population, it’s not as severe as SARS.”
How to care for yourself
In his Feb. 28 email, Eckles provided a list of tactics to minimize the spread of diseases including:
• Wash your hands
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth
• Avoid contact with others who are sick
• Stay home if you’re sick
• Cover your cough or sneeze
• Disinfect objects that are touched often
The Vandal Health Clinic, Moscow Family Medicine and Gritman Medical Center have started screening individuals for the novel coronavirus through various questionnaires, Tuschhoff said.
“If someone is having mild symptoms, even if it’s a mild fever, cough — which can be symptoms of coronavirus — it’s best to just stay at home,” Tuschhoff said.
However, Tuschhoff said if an individual’s symptoms are too much to manage, they should call a health care provider so they can be directed to testing.
“Testing right now across the country is limited; it’s a new virus. So, those tests will be currently saved for the most serious illnesses,” Tuschhoff said.
Brianna Finnegan can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @briannafinnega8