As the cases of people who’ve contracted the coronavirus in the United States slowly increases – the Centers for Disease Control is now tracking a total of 11 confirmed cases – University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) health officials continue to update the school community on what they can do to prevent its spread.
UNR’s Medical Director, Cheryl Hug-English, in an email to faculty and staff on Monday afternoon, reiterated the campus-wide message from last week about the precautions the Student Health Center is taking, in coordination with the Washoe County Health District, to keep our campus community safe.
“We want to reassure you that there are currently no known cases of the novel coronavirus on our campus or in the state of Nevada, and the CDC continues to believe that the risk of acquiring this virus in the United States is low,” said Hug-English.
Over the weekend the number of patients with the novel coronavirus in the U.S. grew. One of the more recent cases, confirmed in Boston, Mass. on Saturday, is of a man in his 20s who after arriving stateside from the city of Wuhan, China immediately sought medical care. Massachusetts Public Health Commissioner, Monica Bharel, thanked him publicly for coming in as soon as he did.
Insofar as preventing an outbreak nationwide, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, stressed in a press conference on Friday, the goal to keep the levels of infections “at a low risk.”
On UNR’s campus, Hug-English explained that the Student Health Center is working to ensure its students, faculty and staff – especially any one affiliated with the Office of International Students and Scholars and Student Services – remain safe.
She reminded that travel restrictions have been put in place by the U.S. government for any person who’s traveled to China in the past 14 days. Upon reentry, and depending on whether they are permanent residents or citizens, they will be screened about their travel within China and be forcibly quarantined or asked to self-monitored. Foreign nationals are temporarily banned from entering the U.S. if they’ve recently traveled in China. –CC