The Grey Bruce Health Unit is working closely with health providers and stakeholders after two cases of the novel coronavirus were confirmed in Toronto, plus another possible case in BC.
Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Ian Arra says residents can reduce the risk by hand washing and taking sick days at home.
People are also being asked to be vigilant in practising the usual safeguards to reduce the risk of respiratory diseases. Cover your mouth and nose when you cough or sneeze. If you don't have a tissue, sneeze or cough into your sleeve or arm.
However, Dr. Arra said the risk of the diseases turning up in the region is very low.
"For a person to come from a specific city, to be carrying that disease, to come to Canada, pass through all the surveillance, active and passive, that we have, and arrive to Canada, and then arrive to Grey Bruce," he said.
Residents who have returned from recent international travel and become ill with respiratory symptoms such as a cough and fever should report their travel history to any health professional, or any emergency room before they visit. Please contact Telehealth Ontario at 1-866-797-0000 for questions specific to an individual health concern.
Dr. Arra said hospitals and healthcare providers are prepared to respond in the unlikely event the disease turns up in Grey Bruce.
"After Sars, I can say with so much confidence, we have a robust public health system and collaborations with the healthcare system as well," he said.
Arra said the fatality rate from novel coronavirus is about two to three per cent, while the death rate from the SARs outbreak was 10 per cent. However, he said the numbers from coronavirus are still evolving.
Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that cause respiratory illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases including viral pneumonia.
"Similar to the common cold, but could be as severe as pneumonia, it would include fever, cough, feeling unwell, shortness of breath," he said.
More information about coronavirus is available at https://www.ontario.ca/page/wuhan-novel-coronavirus-2019-ncov.
