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Diamond Princess Symptomatic COVID Cases In Omaha

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in Nebraska (2019-nCoV)

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12 from Japanese cruise ship being quarantined at UNMC; 1 in biocontainment unit

 
 
 
 

Adozen Americans are now in quarantine at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and being monitored for symptoms of the coronavirus after they were evacuated from a cruise ship in Japan over the weekend.

Another patient who landed at Eppley Airfield in Omaha on Monday morning was taken directly to the Biocontainment Patient Care Unit on UNMC's campus, medical center officials said during a news conference.

It's unclear if any of the patients -- all adults -- are positive for COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus. Each was tested last week in Japan and again by UNMC health workers upon arrival; the results of those tests were not known as of Monday afternoon.

 

While some of the 300 U.S. passengers on the Diamond Princess cruise ship were reported to have the virus last week, each of the individuals who landed in Omaha was asymptomatic and will be closely monitored for 14 days by infectious disease experts at UNMC.

Dr. Chris Kratochvil, an executive director for the Global Center for Health Security at UNMC, said the mission to bring Americans deemed a "high risk" for developing COVID-19 to Omaha for treatment had been in the works for several days.

 

"Over the last few days, we had been preparing for the potential opportunity to bring back citizens here in support of that mission," Kratochvil said.

UNMC and Nebraska Medicine were in communication with the Assistant Secretary of Preparedness and Response, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. State Department, as well as with Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert and Gov. Pete Ricketts and local law enforcement and public health departments.

 
 

Early Monday morning, UNMC was notified some of the patients returning to the U.S. from Japan were being flown to Omaha: "When we received the notification early this morning requesting we assist, we were ready and able to take that on," Kratochvil said.

A pair of Kalitta Air 747s landed at Eppley on Monday morning and were boarded by members of UNMC's infectious disease team wearing full hazardous materials suits, including Michael Wadman, co-director for the quarantine unit.

"Everyone appeared to arrive comfortably," Wadman said. The patients were tired, "but their spirits were high" and "glad to be here."

 

One man with a chronic health condition was taken directly to the Biocontainment Patient Care Unit at a different location on UNMC's campus for evaluation and observation as a precaution, Wadman said.

 

Officials said Monday the man was in stable condition but reported being lightheaded and short of breath.

 
 
 

As the other 12 settle in at UNMC's 20-room quarantine unit, Shelly Schwedhelm, a nurse and director of emergency management at UNMC, said they will go through additional testing as recommended by the CDC.

The patients did not have any written records of what tests were performed in Japan before they disembarked the cruise ship and boarded a plan bound for the U.S., Schwedhelm said, so UNMC is starting the quarantine process from the beginning.

"We're starting from scratch. We want to know what's what," she said. "We're not going to make any assumptions. We're going to test everybody."

 

By Monday afternoon, UNMC staff were working with the patients to get them settled and begin communicating with their families.

 

Like the 57 people in quarantine at the 85-bed Camp Ashland since Feb. 7, the patients now on UNMC's campus, mostly couples, have access to television and wireless internet, Schwedhelm said.

While they are confined to their individual rooms, each fitted with special filtration systems and other engineering controls that keep them isolated from each other and the outside world, Schwedhelm said they may be allowed to move within the quarantine unit once it's determined they do not carry the coronavirus.

Over the weekend, a female evacuee from the epicenter of the global coronavirus outbreak, who was quarantined at Camp Ashland, was taken to UNMC after developing a cough was determined to not have the virus.

 

The rest of the Americans who had been living in the Wuhan region of China will remain in quarantine for another few days.

Kratochvil said while there have been no further announcements of patients coming to Omaha, the med center was not counting out the possibility.

 

"We certainly stand at the ready. We don't know if there will be more," he said. "As the individuals are assessed at the other air bases, it's certainly possible that some could test positive and we could be asked to take more.

"We'll have discussions at that point to decide if we have the capacity," he added.

 

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  • niman changed the title to Diamond Princess Symptomatic COVID Cases In Omaha
niman Grand Master

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Multiple 'high risk' coronavirus patients from quarantined cruise ship brought to Omaha

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KETV
Updated: 3:06 PM CST Feb 17, 2020
 
 
 
 
OMAHA, Neb. —

Two planes carrying Americans who were being held in quarantine on a cruise ship off the coast of Japan landed at Omaha's Eppley Airfield Monday morning.

The first flight arriving from Travis Air Force Base in California landed at 7 a.m. A second airplane from Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio Texas arrived about two hours later. The Omaha Police Department, Omaha Fire Department and Nebraska State Patrol helped secure the scene.

 

 
 

 

Officials confirmed the planes were carrying people who were taken off the Diamond Princess cruise ship, which was anchored off the coast of Japan. Some evacuees were kept in an isolated area of the plane where plastic drops were used to separate people.

Officials said that multiple "high risk patients," all adults, were brought to the Nebraska Medical Center campus in Omaha. Christopher Kratochvil, executive director of clinical research for the Global center for Health Security UNMC, said a total of 13 people were brought to Omaha.

“Around 2 or 3 this morning, we were asked to bring individuals who had tested positive or had a high likelihood of testing positive (for coronavirus), based on the symptoms they were showing,” Kratochvil said.

Those who have tested positive, believed to be 10, are showing mild symptoms of the disease.

One person was brought to the bio-containment unit. The patient had a fever, a cough and was light-headed. Officials said this person was taken to the bio-containment unit out of an abundance of caution. The rest will be kept in quarantine.

Below: Video shows inside bio-containment unit

 
 

 

“All of these individuals, regardless of if they test positive or negative, will be here for 14 days," Kratochvil said, adding that someone that tests positive may stay much longer.

Kratochvil said it is possible Nebraska Medicine will be asked to accept more patients if evacuees brought from other bases test positive.

Shelly Schwedhelm, executive director Of emergency management and biopreparedness, Nebraska Medicine, said all of the patients have been retested and those results should be back Monday afternoon.

"We have no documentation, it has all been verbal," Schwedhelm said, in regards to how many people have tested positive vs. are likely to test positive. "We want to start from scratch so we know what's what."

Kratochvil said that there has been confusion due to the fact that the test results came back while the evacuees were being transported and some began showing symptoms while they were in transport.

Officials said all of the people brought to Omaha were "relieved" to arrive after their extremely long journey.

"They seemed comfortable and ready to relax and get some sleep," Kratochvil said.

A statement from Jeffrey P. Gold, chancellor of University of Nebraska Medical Center and University of Nebraska at Omaha reads:

"We were there for Ebola, we were there for the rescued Americans now being monitored at Camp Ashland and we're going to be there for these American citizens as well...Because we are one of the world leaders in this arena, we were asked by our federal partners, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, to rise to this challenge when our nation once more critically needs our expertise. Clearly, this is again, one of those times."

According to a joint statement by the U.S. State Department and the U.S. Department of Health, "14 passengers (evacuated from the ship), who had been tested 2-3 days earlier, had tested positive for COVID-19. These individuals were moved in the most expeditious and safe manner to a specialized containment area on the evacuation aircraft to isolate them in accordance with standard protocols."

Officials said that, by the time the positive test results came back, the evacuees were already on a bus. Once they were on a bus, officials received information that there had been lab testing days earlier.

Officials stressed that none of the evacuees were showing symptoms when they were taken from the boat.

 
 

The State Department allowed those people to fly because they were not showing any symptoms.

The State Department and DHHS said the potential patients would be held in quarantine for 14 days to monitor for symptoms of COVID-19.

On Feb. 7, 57 people were taken to quarantine at Camp Ashland, located west of Omaha. After more than a week in isolation, none of them have shown symptoms of COVID-19, including a woman who was taken to UNMC as a precaution on Feb. 14.

https://www.ketv.com/article/potential-coronavirus-patients-quarantined-on-cruise-ship-brought-to-omaha-diamond-princess/30963793

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niman Grand Master

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13 people evacuated from cruise ship moved to Nebraska

From CNN's Jennifer Hansler

Dr. William Walters, the Executive and Managing Director of Operational Medicine at Bureau of Medical Services at State Department, said that 328 people were evacuated on the two chartered flights out of Japan.

The flight to California: The aircraft that went to Travis Air Force Base carried 177 people, he said on a briefing call today. Seven of those people “had isolated coronavirus positive,” and an additional three were isolated during the flight because of fever. These three people were not virus positive by test.

Six people were moved to Omaha to be treated at the University of Nebraska, Walters said, adding there were “three spouse pairs, which means four folks that were coronavirus positive but asymptomatic were taken to health care facilities in the vicinity of Travis Air Force Base.”

Dr. Robert Kadlec, the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) at United States Department of Health and Human Services, said this was prearranged with local health authorities.

The flight to Texas: There were 151 individuals on the flight to Lackland Air Force Base, Walters said, and seven were isolated with a positive lab test and no symptoms.

“Two additional personnel were placed in isolation during the flight for fever in accordance with the protocol we’ve discussed,” Walters said.

In total, 144 people stayed at Lackland and seven went on to Omaha, he told reporters.

https://www.cnn.com/asia/live-news/coronavirus-outbreak-02-17-20-intl-hnk/h_b4312d79e8fe691faa7fe22c9f30ec0f

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