Arkansas' 1st coronavirus patient 'likely' got sick in New Orleans during Mardi Gras, state says

[Dennis Donovan]

Source: NOLA.com

BY RAMON ANTONIO VARGAS | STAFF WRITER PUBLISHED MAR 12, 2020 AT 4:14 PM | UPDATED MAR 12, 2020 AT 4:39 PM

Arkansas Department of Health officials on Thursday said that state’s first patient presumed to have the new coronavirus “likely” contracted the illness during a trip to New Orleans for Mardi Gras.

During a telephone interview, department spokeswoman Meg Mirivel declined to elaborate on the information but said it was based on the agency’s investigation into the movements of the patient, a resident of Pine Bluff whose presumptive COVID-19 positive test result came Wednesday.

Dr. Nathaniel Smith, Arkansas’ secretary of health, told reporters in that state earlier in the day that the patient in question then came into contact with four other people who have since tested presumptive positive for COVID-19, including a medical school trainee who is a resident at two hospitals.

The suspicious expressed by Smith and Miravel would suggest COVID-19, a respiratory virus, was circulating in New Orleans well before Monday, when Louisiana reported its first presumptive positive patient.

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Read more: https://www.nola.com/news/coronavirus/article_111c3024-64a6-11ea-83ee-039c0fef9d50.html?1584048219475

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[Skittles]

1. so now we know

coronavirus as been rampant in America but we did not know because WE ARE NOT TESTING

[doc03]

2. Wow if that is the case there would thousands infected.

The Governor of Ohio said they estimate 100,000 are infected here.

[pat_k]

3. As we hear about more cases from NO celebrations...

... I'm guessing the people making a big joke of it all will feel a little chagrined.

Or maybe not.

[Dennis Donovan]

4. A mere 2 weeks ago

[LuvNewcastle]

5. I've seen people at Mardi Gras wearing those bird's beak masks

like doctors wore while the bubonic plague was ravaging Europe. I guess it was a 'feast today, for tomorrow we die' sort of attitude. I've always thought that Mardi Gras in New Orleans would be the perfect place for a terrorist to spread some sort of bio-weapon. People are squeezed into small spaces together and they come from everywhere to celebrate. On Ash Wednesday they all go home to spread whatever they picked up at the parades. It's all a lot of fun, but it comes at a price.

[pat_k]

6. Yes.

Time will tell how high a price this outbreak will exact on attendees in this epidemic.

Given the time that has passed, a vast majority who contracted COVID-19 there who aren't one of the "asymptomtic positive" people would have symptoms by now, and are hopefully self-quarantining. I'd feel better if we heard a special alert and request directed at attendees.

[Leghorn21]

7. ohhhh, been waiting for beautiful ole New Orleans to take a hit...last night there was an article

about a nursing home there that had 3 cases, and I said aw man, sorry to hear that, and hey, does anyone know how the Mardi Gras revelers are doing today?

[BigmanPigman]

8. Venice canceled their Carnival festivities

and China canceled Chinese New Year. I had a bad feeling about Mardi Gras in the US.

[Beartracks]

9. Aw crap. A very good friend of mine is headed to NOLA this weekend.

I know she's aware the timing is bad, so I hope she and her family are cautious and stay safe.

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