Scientists question White House measures to limit spread of coronavirus
The risk of contracting the virus in the United States is still low
As U.S. officials declared the new coronavirus outbreak a public health emergency — imposing measures such as temporary quarantines for people possibly exposed to the virus, and barring entry of foreign nationals who have recently visited China — some experts questioned whether the approach would be effective.
A steep rise in the number of cases in recent days, as well as lingering unknowns about the new virus, called 2019 novel coronavirus, or 2019-nCoV, including its severity and transmissibility, prompted officials to take the actions, said Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in Bethesda, Md. at a White House news briefing announcing the measures on January 31.
“It was not clear whether an asymptomatic person could transmit it while they were asymptomatic. Now we know from a recent report from Germany that is absolutely the case,” he said.
Two coworkers at a car parts supplier in Germany passed the virus to others before developing symptoms, doctors report January 30 in the New England Journal of Medicine (SN: 1/31/20). Spread of the virus from people with no symptoms puts a strain on efforts to contain the virus by identifying infected people and tracing their contacts, Fauci said.