Illinois Hospitals and Coronavirus Disease Concerns
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) continues to closely monitor an outbreak of respiratory illness caused by a novel (new) coronavirus (named COVID-19) that was first detected in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China that has since infected thousands of people in several international locations. Some scientific research has provided estimates that each infected person could spread the virus to as many as 3.5 people without effective containment measures. With new warnings from the CDC alarming Americans to brace for the likelihood that the coronavirus will spread to U.S. communities like Chicago, it is critical hospitals and local health departments are prepared.
As of February 24, 2020, two coronavirus cases have been detected and treated in the state of Illinois. CBS Chicago reported that a husband and wife couple in their 60s were being treated for the virus at St. Alexius Hospital in Hoffman Estates. The woman had recently returned from Wuhan. Her husband, who had not been in China, was also diagnosed with the virus. This was the first known case of human-to-human transmission of coronavirus in the U.S. In Illinois, 68 individuals have been tested for the virus, with the elderly couple being the only two positive cases reported at this time.