CDC warns Americans of ‘disruption’ from Coronavirus, local schools and hospitals get prepared

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a warning Tuesday, saying novel Coronavirus is likely to spread within the United States.

“We expect we will see community spread in this country,” said Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. “It’s not so much a question of if this will happen anymore, but rather more a question of exactly when this will happen and how many people in this country will have severe illness.”

Messonnier said her agency wants people to understand their lives might be disrupted.

"I think the CDC is trying to walk the very fine line of getting people ready for potentially COVID 19 going in either direction," Riverside County Department of Public Health Officer, Dr. Cameron Kaiser said.

Dr. Kaiser says the risk remains low, considering the amount of the cases in the U.S. is just in the double digits.

Wednesday afternoon President Trump addressed the country alongside Vice President Mike Pence and health officials.

"We're very, very ready for this whether it's going to be a breakout of larger proportions or whether or not we're at that very low level," The President said.

Shortly after the news conference, The Centers for Disease Control confirmed a person in Northern California was being treated for Coronavirus in Sacramento County. The agency said the new case could be the first U.S. case without a known link to travel abroad.

Meanwhile, the Riverside County Department of Public Health briefed local school districts on how to be prepared. Both schools and hospitals rely heavily on local health experts to determine what to do to keep people safe in cases like this.

"When that happens, most people, because it's a novel virus, no people have immunity to it so it will spread through the community," Eisenhower Health Registered Nurse and Infection Prevention Specialist, Michael Connors said.

Despite health officials saying the risk of contracting the virus in Riverside County is still very low, Connors says Eisenhower Health is ready for anything.

"We have several airborne isolation rooms, which right now is the CDC's recommendation that these patients be placed in airborne isolation," Connors said.

He says there are currently 10 isolation rooms in the hospital.

"Should we have an influx of patients, we also have plans where we can take one unit of the hospital and turn it into an airborne isolation board that would house only Coronavirus patients," Connors said.

KESQ reached out to local school districts to see if they are doing anything to prepare. The Desert Sands Unified School District released a statement:

"The school districts throughout Riverside County are working with Riverside County [Department of Public] Health on the situation surrounding the Coronavirus."

"For schools we just want to make sure that they're aware of any returning travelers they get and make sure that they're with the program. The good news is most of these people will be intercepted already and they'll already know what is to be expected. We still have the 14-day mandatory quarantine for people who are coming from heavily affected areas of China," Dr. Kaiser said.

Health officials say the flu still poses a larger threat to Riverside County than Coronavirus.