COVID-19, the new coronavirus originating in Wuhan, China, has spread to the United States.
No confirmed cases have been reported in Indiana, but officials in Fort Wayne and the surrounding communities are still planning for the virus's possible arrival.
Petroviak.thanks for joining us tonight.the spread of the coronavirus has been alarming people around the world, as experts work to develop a cure.
But what exactly is it?the world health organization says coronavirus is a ?large family of viruses.in humans, several coronaviruses are known to cause respiratory infections ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as mers and sars.
The most recent discovered coronavirus is called covid-19, originating in wuhan, china.
And with covid-19 becoming more of a concern, local officials are preparing for its possible arrival here in our area.
Fox 55's caleb saylor explains what they're doing to help prevent an outbreak.
Local government officials, health care workers, business owners and school leaders met in fort wayne today to talk about the impacts covid-19 could have on the communityfor concordia's head of school, mychal thom, his concern starts with the students.
"we all want to educate kids in safe environments and we all want to be able to do that effectively.
So, the wisdom of the group, categorically, is really a nice thing for us to hear today."the meeting got different sectors talking about things they may not have been talking about beforefor hospitals, like parkview, they're reviewing their response plans with the community "we prepare by making sure that we have staff plans.
That we have plans to accommodate additional capacity of members of the community that come in to seek care.
We also make sure we have all the necessary supplies to take care of patients."but they're also thinking about keeping their staff safe, especially since there's already a shortage of healthcare providers.
"one of our primary concerns, as far as our emergency preparedness, is to make sure we protect those healthcare workers so that they can provide care to our community when it's most needed."allen county health commissioner dr. deborah mcmahan brought the group together, not to cause panic, but to prepare "there's no benefit in panicking for anything.
What you want to do is just be concerned, stay tuned, stay informed."and that's what those who attended today are doing.
"we're planning.
If there's something that needs to happen that we're going to have a good solid plan and we're going to be able to move forward in a successful way."in fort wayne, caleb saylor, fox 55 news.
If you want to learn more about covid-19, see a live updating map of the virus, or learn how to prevent the spread of the disease, there are several links in this story on our website w-f-f-t