Area health officers, including Rebecca Burns of Branch-Hillsdale-St. Joseph Community Health Agency, are planning for a unified effort to address the growing coronavirus threat.
This comes as federal processes increase to follow potential cases, including one in Hillsdale County. Kali Nichols, director of personal health and disease prevention, told the health board last week her office was notified Feb. 8 of a flight attendant who had possible contact with COVID-19. Because of a delay in reaching the person, it was learned the individual was past the 14-day monitoring period still showing no signs of being symptomatic.
Nichols said Detroit Metro Airport has reported passengers who may have contact with the virus. Nichols expects the system is now working better to alert local staff to find identified people earlier.