Los Angeles County Department of Public Health officials this week outlined the latest plans to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus that originated in China, and which has been contracted by at least one person in the county.
DPH officials said they are working with the state and federal government to implement the new directives to contain the virus, noted as 2019-nCoV, including:
—Assisting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention with the safe transport of travelers arriving at LAX from China who need to be quarantined. Those travelers will be isolated at the quarantine station at LAX and then transported to the March Air Reserve Base in Riverside County—which has already taken in nearly 200 government employees under quarantine after they were possibly exposed to the virus;
—Updating and distributing guidance to local healthcare providers around screening and treating people with suspected cases;
—Working with schools, colleges and universities to ensure compliance with new guidance from CDC that excludes newly arriving travelers from China from public settings for 14 days from their last exposure;
—Providing accurate information to community residents in multiple languages and delivering packets of fact sheets about the novel coronavirus to more than 800 community-based organizations;
—Establishing protocols for monitoring the health of U.S. Citizens and their family members returning from China who are in Los Angeles County and need to remain in their homes for up to 14 days. This includes making sure they receive appropriate services and testing in the event they become ill within 14 days of last exposure;
—Continued monitoring of all people identified as “close contacts” of any confirmed cases to assess health status and issue exclusion requirements in accordance with CDC directives.
Updates about the coronavirus will be posted on the county website at www.publichealth.lacounty.gov, and on DPH social media accounts @lapublichealth.
As a result of the situation in China, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services declared a public health emergency to allow local, state and federal officials to fully coordinate responses.
