CDC Spells out Risk Levels for Novel Coronavirus

By Kelly Young

Edited by David G. Fairchild, MD, MPH, and Lorenzo Di Francesco, MD, FACP, FHM

The CDC has laid out guidance for assessing a person's risk for acquiring novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV).

The following U.S. people are considered at high risk:

• Those who've been in Hubei Province, China, in the past 14 days.

• Those living in the same house as, being an intimate partner of, or caring for a person with symptomatic, lab-confirmed coronavirus infection without consistently following recommended precautions. (The same applies in cases where coronavirus was diagnosed clinically outside the U.S. but wasn't lab-confirmed.)

Symptomatic, high-risk people should be put in immediate isolation with recommended medical evaluation. Asymptomatic, high-risk people should be quarantined and monitored daily. The recommended quarantine period is 14 days.

Those at medium risk for acquiring the virus include:

• Those with close contact with a person with symptomatic, lab-confirmed infection (without the high-risk exposures listed above). This could include being seated within 6 feet of a symptomatic, lab-confirmed person on an airplane (roughly two seats in each direction; see diagram at first link below).

• Those with close contact with a lab-confirmed patient at home while using recommended precautions.

• Those who've traveled from other parts of China.

People at medium risk and with no symptoms should still try to limit their public activities.

As of Feb. 3, China reported over 20,400 confirmed cases and 425 deaths. Some 23,000 suspected cases were also being assessed.