Abbott demands stricter coronavirus testing after released Texas patient tested positive
This story has been updated to reflect new figures and San Antonio officials’ declaration of a health emergency Monday afternoon.
Gov. Greg Abbott is demanding stricter coronavirus testing protocols from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention after a quarantined patient tested positive following her release from a San Antonio health facility.
“What happened in San Antonio, what the CDC did, is completely unacceptable. It appears to be a case of negligence,” Abbott said Monday from the Governor’s Mansion. “I think they understand the magnitude of that error they made.”
After being released and coming into contact with about a dozen people at a hotel, the patient — who was an evacuee from Wuhan, China, where the virus was first detected — later tested positive for the virus and was returned to isolation, according to the San Antonio Express-News.
Abbott has asked for increased testing before a patient can be released, from two tests separated by a period of 24 hours to three tests 48 hours apart to ensure that patients are completely free of the virus.
“That was one of the mistakes here,” Abbott said. “There was a third test that was conducted on the woman who was released. She was released before the test results came back. That third test showed that she in fact did have the coronavirus.”
As part of the “course correction,” Abbott has also asked that the over 120 quarantined individuals who were repatriated from the Diamond Princess cruise ship and set to be released today not be allowed to go home “until the CDC can guarantee that they have no trace of coronavirus.”
Passengers from the Diamond Princess cruise ship that was evacuated from Japan have been quarantined, and infected patients are being treated in San Antonio at the Lackland Air Force Base.
In a letter Monday to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the CDC, John Hellerstedt, the commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services, requested federal officials provide a written rationale for releasing the quarantined individuals, in addition to a clear explanation of how the results and protocols led to the patient’s mistaken release.
“If CDC testing confirms the individual is still positive, I urge you to quickly review the science to determine what updates to CDC criteria are necessary,” Hellerstedt wrote. “Local communities, the state, and the nation must be confident that CDC criteria is fully protecting U.S. communities from the risk of exposure.”
Health officials in San Antonio are working to ensure any possible exposure is minimized and identify every person who may have come in contact with the released patient, Abbott said.
In a statement Sunday, San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg said the mistake was “unacceptable,” and has also asked that the CDC ensure quarantined individuals scheduled for release pose no risk. Monday afternoon, Nirenberg declared a local state of disaster and public health emergency, and prevented quarantined evacuees from being released into the city, according to the San Antonio Express-News.
Eleven patients have tested positive for coronavirus and remain at the Texas Center for Infectious Disease in San Antonio, but Abbott stressed all have “very mild cases” of the virus. Currently, no known cases have originated in Texas, and patients being treated and monitored in San Antonio have been evacuated from China or from the Diamond Princess cruise ship that set sail from Japan.
Hellerstedt told reporters Monday he does not have a solid number on how many individuals have been tested for the virus in Texas. He said more laboratories will be capable of administering testing kits.
While testing kits are not likely to be made available to physicians’ offices at this point through the FDA’s approval process, a laboratory in Lubbock that is part of the CDC’s Laboratory Response Network is able to perform the tests, Hellerstedt said, with hopes it will soon come to laboratories in Austin
“That’ll be a great advance because having that testing, that specific testing, available for COVID-19 will really aid in our ability to contain the virus,” Hellerstedt said.
Last week, Abbott stressed state agencies are prepared to handle a variety of outcomes to combat the disease’s spread and that no community spread has been reported in Texas, like was in California last week.
The coronavirus has rapidly spread worldwide, with outbreaks in places like Iran, Italy, South Korea and Japan. Its spread to more than 65 countries has caused stock markets to plummet, restricted travel to certain areas and led to at least six deaths in the U.S. as of Monday night, according to the Associated Press.
Abbott stressed that people who contract the coronavirus can recover from the disease, like those who have been successfully released previously. People with flu-like symptoms are encouraged to contact their health care providers.
Precautionary Steps
Coronavirus symptoms can include fever, cough and shortness of breath, and it’s believed to mainly spread between people in close contact with one another or when an infected person coughs or sneezes nearby, according to the CDC.
Health officials have stressed that they still have more to learn about the emerging disease, for which there is no vaccine. Here are steps the CDC recommends people take to prevent exposure and illness:
- Avoid close contact with people who are sick, and stay home if you are sick.
- Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth.
- Cover your coughs and sneezes with a tissue, and clean and disinfect surfaces.
- Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds.
- If showing symptoms, wear a facemask to help prevent the spread of the disease to others. A mask is not recommended for people who are well.
This story was originally published March 2, 2020 at 11:34 AM.
