Coronavirus: Los Angeles

Coronavirus really hasn't hit the United States. There are some cases in the United States, but as I'm writing this up (Feb 13th, Thursday), the total cases were only 15. And I believe 3 of those cases were from individuals that were flown out of Wuhan and were quarantined on military bases across the United States.

Even though the United States is currently being spared any mass outbreaks, that doesn't mean we shouldn't worry. Here's one article from Patch that caught my attention:

Los Angeles County public health nurses are closely monitoring all residents who recently traveled to mainland China, regardless of whether they have any symptoms of the coronavirus, the county's top health official said Tuesday. 



More than 1,000 people fall into that category and each has been assigned a public health nurse and asked to self-isolate and not to go to work or school for 14 days, Department of Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer told the Board of Supervisors. 

I wonder how many individuals across America are being asked to self-isolate. It would seem that at least some of these individuals will be found to carry the virus. Hopefully, the definition of self-isolation includes not living with a significant other or other relatives.

The LA Times has an interesting article up about cultural differences in the San Gabriel Valley regarding the wearing of masks. The article explores differences of opinions around masks between Latinos and Asians. Both ethnic groups combined makes up around 74% of the residences in San Gabriel Valley. I will say this, if coronavirus does hit Los Angeles, everyone is going to be wearing masks.

I've been thinking about how coronavirus might gain a foothold in Los Angeles. One speculation I have is that it could gain traction first in our homeless population. The City of Los Angeles has around 36,000 homeless. Anyone who walks around DTLA will see hundreds if not thousands living in tents or just sleeping on the sidewalks. If one of them got infected, would they even think about going to the doctor? Why would they even think they should go to the doctor if they've never been to China or feel it is unlikely that they'd interacted with anyone from China (I suppose I might need to expand behind China to countries like Singapore). If I were homeless, I'd probably just think I had a bad cold or flu. If my case was severe, I might eventually head to a hospital, but by that point the virus would have already spread to all the other homeless people I interacted with. And by that point, it would probably be too late to isolate everyone I came in contact with.