New Yorker with Symptoms of COVID-19 Returning from Japan Refuses to Test for Coronavirus

A 35-year-old resident of Brooklyn went to a New York hospital with a fever and cough. He recently returned from Japan and was afraid that he had contracted COVID-19 there. However, doctors, having examined the patient, let him go home. Details about this, as well as existing testing problems in the state, the publication said. Business Insider.

What happened

Recently, a 35-year-old New Yorker returned from a business trip to Japan, where at least 230 people discovered a new coronavirus.

Doctors at the New York University Langon Hospital in Brooklyn suspected that he might have COVID-19. Tests for 20 other viruses were negative, including five flu strains. But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention rejected the hospital’s request for a new coronavirus test. The reason for the refusal was the fact that his condition was not serious enough for hospitalization.

Officials even told the hospital that the patient could return to normal, including a subway ride to work in downtown Manhattan.

A source confirmed the identity of this man by checking his documents, but for security reasons his name was not disclosed.

"If it turns into a pandemic or something like that, it shouldn't be down to individual decisions," said the Brooklyn resident. He also added that his doctor disagreed with the CDC's verdict and recommended ways in which a patient can self-quarantine himself at home. The man listens to the advice, although he still does not know for sure if he has COVID-19.

New York Testing Issues

This situation will reveal a major obstacle to containment of the new coronavirus in the United States. "Testing in other countries (reaching a wider audience - Ed.) Than here," said William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, earlier. "We prowl while they run."

Limited testing capabilities mean that some cases may remain undiagnosed.

The man said that in the hospital, medical workers scanned his chest to check for pneumonia, and ordered testing for 20 major viruses. The results for all tests were negative. A chest scan confirmed the problem, but the symptoms were not severe enough to keep him in the hospital.

The male attending physician told him that she had requested a COVID-19 test at the State Department of Health, but the response received said that he did not need testing.

According to CDC guidelines, those who have recently visited Japan are considered to be carriers of COVID-19 only if they have severe enough symptoms. The same standards apply to people who have traveled to China, Iran, Italy, and South Korea.

A letter from this man’s doctor said the Department of Health said his case “doesn’t cause him to have COVID-19.” The doctor, however, recommended that the patient "stay at home until the fever subsides."

The New York State Department of Health declined to comment on this situation, and the CDC did not respond to a request for comment at the time of publication of this material.

Number of people tested in the USA

As of Sunday, March 1, the CDC tested on COVID-19 for a total of about 470 people throughout America. It seems that overnight the CDC removed these test numbers from their site, the publication notes.

At the same time, Alex Hazard, a U.S. health and social services official, said March 1 of 3600 Americans tested.

“We are still dealing with a test that is limited in its availability, so we have to prioritize the risk,” Bela Matyas, a healthcare professional in Solano County, California, told a press conference on Thursday. Mathias noted that this was one of the reasons the California patient spent several days in two hospitals without a test.

Ten people in New York were tested on COVID-19, another 22 people were tested elsewhere in New York. On Sunday, March 1, the New York State Department of Health confirmed the first case - a 39-year-old woman who recently returned from Iran became infected with the virus.

On the subject: Coronavirus in New York: the first case of infection was confirmed in the city

South Korea, by contrast, has introduced free testing for coronaviruses and has already tested more than 109 people.

Moreover, many CDC tests distributed to government laboratories were faulty, resulting in more than half of the labs having inconclusive results.

“It's easy for some countries, but what happened in the US was that the CDC created a test, sent it out to all 50 states, and then said, 'Wait, wait, don't use it,'” McCarthy said. He added: “I still need to call the Department of Health. I still have to give my reasons, begging for people to be tested. "

Moral test

The man said that while in Japan, he wore a mask most of the time, but could not escape the crowded train stations. Halfway through the trip, he developed a mild cough. He returned to New York on Tuesday, landing at Newark Liberty International Airport. Over the next few days, he began to feel pain and fever, describing a sensation of heat and burning throughout his body. On Thursday, he phoned New York University's Langone. “I felt like things were only getting worse,” he said. - It feels like everything is going on an upward trajectory. So it made me nervous. "

A hospital employee told him to come to the emergency room. At the hospital, a nurse gave him a surgical mask and escorted him to a separate room.

“After a while, someone entered the ward, he was in quarantine equipment,” the man said. - Covers covering the whole face, apron, shoes, gloves, plastic glasses. Literally no part of the body was naked. "

However, after being examined, the man was allowed to leave the hospital with a vague diagnosis of "viral disease." He had already called another Uber taxi to get home.

The patient said this test was expensive for him. He went to the ambulance because he was afraid that he had undergone a new coronavirus. According to the man, he usually does not spend money on visiting the hospital due to fever and cough.

Moreover, he lives in a one-room apartment with his girlfriend, and she was forced to stay in a hotel to avoid contact with him. The girl left food in the lobby of the house, as well as medicines prescribed by the doctors: the steroid Prednisone, which suppresses inflammation, and benzonate to treat cough.

“It's like a test of my personal morality,” he said, choking with fits of coughing. "Are you willing to spend thousands of dollars going to the hospital, paying for hotels and isolating yourself so people you don't know get sick?"

The man knew that the recommended quarantine period was 14 days; he was not sure from which day the report should be kept. He said that he tried to work from home and slept a lot, watched TV, played video games and checked the temperature several times a day.

Today, a man feels better: the fever has passed, although the cough has not stopped. He worries that he may have transmitted the virus to his girlfriend.

Undetected cases of COVID-19

The man said that he repeatedly called the New York State Department of Health and asked if they changed the criteria for detecting the virus or, perhaps, decided to test it, but the answer was not received.

He said he understands that the CDC gives priority to tests for people who develop severe symptoms. However, he worries that patients with coronavirus may remain undetected.

“I can't imagine I was the only one returning from one of these countries with mild flu-like symptoms,” he said, adding that he believed there were many more people to be screened by New York health officials by Saturday.

The fact that only eight people were tested - "makes no sense." Many people without the pronounced symptoms of the virus could simply be denied testing and allowed to live a normal life.