People wear masks as they wait for the arrivals at the International terminal at Toronto Pearson International Airport in Toronto on Saturday, January 25, 2020. Leaders of Toronto's Chinese community said Wednesday the racist attitudes that led to widespread discrimination against Chinese Canadians during the SARS epidemic are threatening to resurface during the current outbreak of a new coronavirus.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette
gslade@medicinehatnews.com@MHNGillianSlade
Alberta Health says the risk of exposure to coronavirus in the province is low, even though the World Health Organization declared the virus a global emergency on Thursday.
“The risk is low but we are prepared,” said Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health on Thursday afternoon at a press conference.
The WHO’s declaration of the outbreak being a global emergency means it constitutes a risk to other countries and requires a co-ordinated international response.
Hinshaw says no immediate changes are being made in Alberta and it is closely working with the public health agency of Canada.
“We are ready, we are prepared,” said Hinshaw.
There are currently no confirmed cases of coronavirus in Alberta.
Anyone who has concerns about symptoms or questions should call HealthLink 811.
Hinshaw said she believes the factors that contributed to the WHO making the declaration was that there are cases where the virus has spread from person to person. Another concern was for the virus spreading to other countries that may not have a robust health-care system to cope.
Canada is in the process of looking at assisting a number of Canadians who are in China to return to Canada.
Hinshaw said it is not known whether there are any Albertans among those on the list.
Canada is looking at WHO guidelines and what other countries are doing as it determines whether and how Canadians returning from China might be quarantined.
Alberta is focusing on actively monitoring and testing possible cases, particularly those with a travel history to affected areas of China in the last two weeks.
Hinshaw says all three airports in Canada that have flights to and from China have a screening protocol and those with any symptoms are referred to other officers. They are also aware of those who are continuing their travel to other Canadian destinations
Hinshaw has previously stated that anyone being tested for coronavirus is kept in isolation until results come back that are negative. Lab test results take about two days. If the patient does not need hospitalization they are kept in isolation at home.
So far there are three confirmed cases of coronavirus in Canada – two in Ontario and one in B.C. All three cases are travel related.
The U.S. has announced its first case of the virus spreading from person to person. The husband of someone who had travelled to the heart of the outbreak in China has been diagnosed with the virus.
“We anticipated this,” said Dr. William Schaffner, a Vanderbilt University infectious diseases expert. “The kind of contact that you have in a household is very close and very prolonged. That’s the kind of circumstance where we would anticipate a virus such as this could be transmitted.”
— with files from The Associated Press
