Coronavirus – Credit CDC PHIL
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I wasn’t able to listen to the live press conference held by Phillips Hospital earlier today regarding their MERS case, but fortunately Maggie Fox of NBC news did, and we have her report on two hospital employees who are showing symptoms of illness, and are being tested for the virus.
Reportedly about 15 other workers at the Dr. P Philips Hospital, as well as 5 from Orlando’s Regional Medical Center (ORMC) where the infected traveler also visited, are in voluntary home quarantine for the duration of the incubation period.
Florida Hospital Workers Who Treated MERS Patient Fall Ill
By Maggie FoxTwo of the health care workers who treated a MERS patient in Florida have come down with respiratory symptoms, and are being tested to see if they may have caught the mysterious virus from him, hospital officials say.
In at least one of the cases it’s almost certain not to be MERS — the staffer started showing symptoms just a day after treating the patient, who’s the second person to be diagnosed with MERS in the United States.
The incubation period for MERS — meaning the time it takes from contacting someone who’s infected to showing the first symptoms — is usually about five days.
With the caveat that being exposed (even if symptomatic) doesn’t necessarily mean they are infected, all eyes will be on the test results for these, and others in the coming days.
Stay tuned.
