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The first American case of a community-spread coronavirus infection was recently announced in California.
The patient in the case said they didn’t travel to regions where the disease had already spread. This means that they caught the COVID-19 illness from someone in the US who had it. This is upsetting for the CDC, as it means that the illness is out of control and moving through the US.
However, doctors didn’t initially diagnose the patient with the COVID-19 virus. The reason? Officials at UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento said they asked for testing, but didn’t receive permission right away. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention disclosed the case, the 60th such case in the US, Wednesday night.
UC Davis researchers said that they do not directly control the process for testing. However, the COVID-19 patient didn’t initially match the coronavirus case criteria. If they had, the researchers would have suspected that they had the novel coronavirus.
To some researchers, it seemed as though the patient needed only regular flu symptom relief, not COVID-19 testing.
“Upon admission, our team asked public health officials if this case could be COVID-19” the hospital told reporters.
“We requested COVID-19 testing by the CDC, since neither Sacramento County nor CDPH (the California Department of Public Health) is doing testing for coronavirus at this time. Since the patient did not fit the existing CDC criteria for COVID-19, a test was not immediately administered. UC Davis Health does not control the testing process.”
Wednesday night, Trump appointed Vice President Mike Pence to oversee the effort to contain COVID-19. Many criticize this move. People accuse Pence of not trusting science, citing his history of climate crisis denial. He also has a record of supporting homosexual conversion therapy during his time as governor of Indiana. Researchers have proven that conversion therapy is ineffective.
While governor of Indiana, Pence oversaw containment efforts as a massive HIV outbreak rampaged through the population of the state. However, many criticized then-governor Pence for his alleged homophobia. He barely responded to the disease. He said “prayer” would somehow be the best defense against the illness.
The CDC recently warned Americans to be prepared for disruptions to daily life as a direct result of the coronavirus. COVID-19 outbreaks could lead to school closures and office closures. Public places are closing their doors and shortening their hours. Officials are even delaying and canceling major sporting events.
