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The California woman who turned out to be the first case of coronavirus with no known origin in the United States was not tested for the disease for five days because she had not been in the regions hit by the outbreak.

The answer to this case, which could be the first transmission in the community, opens the question about whether other patients were overlooked in the country and occurs in the middle of a complaint about federal health workers interacting with quarantined patients in two California air bases without proper equipment or training. One of the bases, the Air Force Travis, is in Solano County, where the infected woman is from.

At a hearing this Thursday, California congressman Ami Bera said the patient was admitted to the University of California medical center in Davis on February 19 and was quickly placed on a respirator. That day, doctors asked federal authorities to analyze a sample to rule out the coronavirus.

But it was not until February 23, after his condition worsened and there was "great insistence that the patient was finally examined," added Bera, who previously worked as a doctor in that hospital and indicated that he learned the details of the case through his former classmates.

The positive result took another three days to return and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) declared it Wednesday as a possible first community case, in which the source of the infection is unknown and is also a sign that The pathogen is no longer contained. If confirmed, it will represent a greater challenge in fighting the virus in the country.

"We are ready for everything," said Sonia Angell, director of Public Health of the Department of Health, at a press conference in which she indicated that "any individual with whom he could have contact (the patient) and exposed, and they are being isolated. "

California also reported that more than 8,400 people were under supervision to rule out contagion.

Threats of dismissal

Bera questioned the director of the CDC, Robert Redfield, who ordered updating the guidelines for the testing protocol as a result of this case.

"The recommendation should be that when a doctor or health worker suspects the presence of coronavirus, then we should be able to do a coronavirus test ... that is the updated guideline that came out today," Redfield said.

The official testified that what made the coronavirus particularly difficult to recognize is that infected people may not show symptoms and spread it. Or, they may have only mild symptoms such as a sore throat or dry cough.

Brian Garibaldi, a public health expert at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Maryland, said he expected the number of cases in the United States to increase as a result of these new guidelines.

Amid these hearings, The Washington Post and The New York Times cite the report of an anonymous whistleblower from the Department of Health (HHS), who warns that other officials interacted with repatriated Americans to the two bases without protective equipment or training.

She said she was reassigned after expressing concern and threatened to be fired.

The report noted that less than 30 federal employees were exposed between late January and early February.

"We are not exaggerating"

California Governor Gavin Newsom said, backed by his health team, that the risk in the state was still low. "We are not exaggerating, but we are not underestimating the understandable anxiety," he said. He said they work with the federal government to obtain more test kits, as the current inventory is only 200. Redfield later told Congress that more kits were on the way.

In total there are 61 cases in the United States, including 46 people who were repatriated from abroad. More than 80,000 people have been infected worldwide and 2,800 have died, mostly in China, where the virus originated at the end of last year.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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  • Science and Health
  • Coronavirus
  • Covid 19
  • U.S
  • Infectious diseases
  • Respiratory diseases

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