There are no diagnosed coronavirus (COVID-19) cases in Richmond — so far.
Dr. Meena Dewar, medical health officer for Richmond, provided an update to Richmond council on the coronavirus outbreak on Monday evening.
She confirmed that no cases have been diagnosed yet in Richmond, but, she added, there will be some soon “because viruses know no boundaries.”
Currently 32 people have been diagnosed with the flu-like illness that got its start in Wuhan, a city in China's central Hubei province, in late 2019.
Nineteen of those diagnosed are in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, with one death reported in a North Vancouver long-term care home.
Dewar pointed out the risk of transmission remains low, and currently the health authority doesn’t think there is any need to cancel mass gatherings.
Someone with coronavirus is contagious when they have symptoms, she explained to council, usually coughing and sneezing, but some people are also getting gastro-intestinal symptoms like nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.
When asked by council whether surgical masks help prevent catching coronavirus, Dewar said if someone is healthy, the masks won’t help.
