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The first case of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019 n-COV) in the U.S. state of Wisconsin has been reported by the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS).
The number of infections is now at 12, with 206 people under investigation and pending medical checks on an additional 76 people.
Dr. Nancy Messonnier, the Director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases with the CDC says, "We need to be humble; we don’t think it has stopped and it is too early to say if it (the virus) has slowed down.We have a window of opportunity to keep it from spreading throughout the United States."
The agency has about 800 people working on stopping the virus including 200 people who have fanned out to various airports in the U.S. to monitor passengers returning from overseas.
The CDC also says citizens across the country do not need to protect themselves with surgical masks, and rubber gloves.
When asked about the protective items Messonnier said, "We may need to preserve them, the public should not go out and buy masks.We caution people to be patient."
The CDC says protective items are needed for medical professionals on the front line in the fight to contain the coronavirus.
On Wednesday, two aircraft from Wuhan landed at military bases in the United States, and two more are scheduled to land at two separate military installations on Thursday.
Messonnier says all passengers on those four flights will be quarantined at the bases for 14 days.
If after 14 days, those in quarantine show no signs of the infection, they will be allowed to return to their families and their homes and go on with their lives in a normal fashion.
The CDC says the period of incubation for the coronavirus is two weeks.The CDC says it has been planning and holding periodic exercises for an outbreak such as the coronavirus.
Messonnier says it "was not an easy decision" to decide on mandatory quarantines.
She says those in quarantine are going about their daily lives as best as possible, but they are not permitted to leave the military bases. Messonnier says patients in quarantine have said they are grateful to be "home" and have been cooperative in medical evaluations.
There is also a concern about people flying from Hubei Province and returning to the United States on commercial flights. The CDC says it is monitoring the situation with Messonnier adding, "We may not catch every single case, given how it is spreading, but we will slow its entry into the U.S."
