BOSTON (WHDH) - As the mysterious coronavirus makes its way from country to country, health providers are scrambling to develop a vaccine.
Here in Massachusetts, hospitals and health care providers are preparing for the challenges of treating coronavirus cases.
If a traveler from China suspected of having the virus is brought to Mass. General Hospital, the medical staff says that person will be treated as if they have the actual virus.
“We would isolate them in a single room and health care workers were are coming close and interacting with them would wear the CDC recommended personal protective equipment,” Dr. David Hooper, Chief of the MGH Infection control unit said.
Hooper says the medical samples will be sent to the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta for testing. Test results could take several days.
“The actual time to do the test is probably a matter of an hour or two at most,” he explained. “But, there may be a lot of samples that the CDC has to test.”
The mysterious and deadly coronavirus is so new that Hooper says it is still unclear if a person who doesn’t have symptoms can infect another person.
“We just don’t have enough data to know for sure whether they can transmit it before they have symptoms or not,” he said. “The incubation period, what we know at this point, is that it looks like it is somewhere, on the short end, two to three days and on the long end, maybe as long as 14 days.”
Although there is no vaccine for coronavirus yet, Dr. Hooper says it is coming — slowly.
“It’s uncertain at this point but it will be in a matter of months, not days to weeks.”
The United States has seen five confirmed cases but Gov. Charlie Baker says the coronavirus risk in Massachusetts remains low.
“We obviously have been in regular contact with the CDC and with the folks in our Department of Public Health, and we’ll continue to be,” Baker said. “At this point in time, the threat level here remains low.”
Due to a lack of treatment options, health officials say prevention is key.
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