UMass Memorial Health Care in Worcester has created an alert for its medical staff in the event a patient has traveled to China or Southeast Asia and is showing symptoms of coronavirus.
A staffwide alert in the hospital’s electronic medical records system, known as Epic, would also be triggered if someone has been in close contact with a person suspected of or diagnosed with the disease.
The alert went into effect Saturday and will remain in place until UMass’ infection control determines it is no longer a risk, according to a notice sent to hospital caregivers.
Such a patient should immediately be isolated, the notice said.
The precautionary step at UMass comes as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a recommendation travelers avoid all nonessential travel to China, where coronavirus has originated.
Five people in the United States — in Arizona, California, Illinois and Washington — have tested positive for coronavirus as of Tuesday, according to the CDC. Another 32 have tested negative, and 73 have tests pending. In all, 26 states have at least one person the CDC considers under investigation for the disease.
Worldwide, 106 people have died and more than 4,500 have been sickened, according to The New York Times.
Â
