Open AccessA sentinel COVID‐19 case in Houston, Texas: Informing frontline emergency department screening and preparedness
Author(s) -
Lopez Monica,
Luber Samuel,
Prater Samuel,
OstroskyZeichner Luis,
McCarthy Jamie,
Suarez Guillermo,
Bobrow Bentley J.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of the american college of emergency physicians open
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2688-1152
DOI - 10.1002/emp2.12068
Subject(s) - preparedness , emergency department , covid-19 , medicine , pneumonia , disease control , infectious disease (medical specialty) , medical emergency , infection control , middle east respiratory syndrome coronavirus , outbreak , pandemic , cluster (spacecraft) , middle east respiratory syndrome , emergency medicine , intensive care medicine , disease , virology , pathology , political science , nursing , law , computer science , programming language
In December 2019, a cluster of severe pneumonia cases of unknown cause was reported in Wuhan, Hubei province, China. A novel strain of coronavirus belonging to the same family of viruses that cause severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) was identified. In February 2020, cases began being identified in the United States. We describe a sentinel COVID‐19 patient in Houston, Texas, who first presented on March 1, 2020. The patient did not meet criteria for a Person Under Investigation (PUI) as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) at the time. This case has broad implications for emergency department screening and preparedness for COVID‐19 and other future infectious diseases.