~ No need for panic over coronavirus, as there is not enough data to show mutation outside of China, Dr. Jan Cedric Hansen ~
PHILIPSBURG: --- Health officials should be at all ports of entry on St. Maarten / St. Martin to ask two basic questions to travelers as precautions are taken to contain the coronavirus outbreak that started in Wuhan China. Dr. Hansen, member of the Foundation des Catastrophes said that travelers should be asked if they visited China in the past two weeks and if they ate wild meat during their stay there. He said unless a person was in China it is highly unlikely they are infected with the new strain of the virus.
Dr. Hansen further explained that there is not enough data available to say how catastrophic is this strain of the virus, he said based on the data available it shows that the coronavirus behaves just like the regular influenza virus. Furthermore, he said that the mutation takes as much as 12 days after infection making it much more unlikely for persons that were contaminated while traveling to spread the virus. He said unless a traveler has a fever and is coughing there is less likelihood for contamination.
Dr. Hansen said that China is handling the spread of the virus very well and that those persons that got infected while in China only began showing symptoms days after they returned to their country of residence. He said there are at least three confirmed cases in France and those persons took the necessary precautions when they began feeling sick by calling their doctor and not just showed up at their doctor’s clinic or local hospitals.
“Each year over 5,000 persons die from the influenza virus annually and this is because the infected persons do not take the necessary precautions, it is always better to stay away from public places when infected with influenza to limit contaminations.” Dr. Hansen said.
People should also protect themselves by wearing a mask as well as washing their hands since they can also pick up the virus by touching things and people.
It should be noted that the Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIAE) has a room available to quarantine suspected travelers who would then have to be taken to a hospital for testing, however, health officials from St. Maarten is yet to present themselves at PJIAE to begin the basic screening.
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