According to the Department of Health, 26 people recently returned to Westchester County from areas where the coronavirus is more prevalent.
They are being quarantined voluntarily, most in their own homes, CBS2’s Aundrea Cline-Thomas reported Tuesday.
County health officials said the patients have not shown any symptoms of the virus, but they could have been exposed to the illness during their travels.
Officials did not say exactly where all of the people traveled or if they were together, but said the county is following Centers for Disease Control protocol. Doctors are video conferencing with the patients by using their cellphones.
If anyone becomes sick or needs to go to the hospital, emergency crews will take special precautions.
“This is a time for sober realities, where speculation, where projections of things that are not backed up necessarily by fact, where going on the internet and ‘I heard this and I saw this’ is not only unhelpful, but it can be negative,” County Executive George Latimer said. “If this situation advances we will speak clearly as a county government in every single communication that we have. We’re not going to hide anything. But by the same token, we’re not going to turn this into a circus.”
Again, the quarantine is precautionary. Like with any virus, hand washing and covering your cough with your elbow are all ways to keep it from spreading.
Doctors are also advising that people get their flu shot.
Source: NBS New York