The number of people under quarantine for novel coronavirus monitoring in Monroe County has grown.
Six people -- none of whom have shown any symptoms of infection with the virus -- have agreed to quarantine themselves at home for two weeks, public health commissioner Michael Mendoza said.
All six of those people, including one who entered quarantinelast week, returned to the U.S. from mainland China after Feb. 1, when the Trump administrationimposed travel restrictions as part of an effort to reduce the spread of the virus.
Under voluntary quarantine, the six people take their temperature each day and report their physical condition to the county public health department.
The department also calls at random times to check that the people under quarantine are indeed at home, Mendoza said.
“If they become symptomatic, obviously we’re going to elevate our level of concern,” Mendoza said.
At this point, however, there are no confirmed cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, in Monroe County or New York state.
Fever is the primary symptom that the health department watches for during these quarantines, Mendoza said, but they also check for respiratory symptoms like coughing or shortness of breath.
Despite the growing number of quarantines, and the fears local doctors have heard from people worried that their seasonal illnesses are caused by coronavirus, Mendoza urged restraint.
“If somebody walked into my clinical office and said they had these symptoms, I would not be thinking coronavirus at all. I would be thinking flu, or common cold,” he said. “Coronavirus would not even enter into the equation.”
