Health officials in Windsor-Essex are working to keep incorrect information about the novel coronavirus from taking hold.
The coronavirus was the main agenda item for Windsor Regional Hospital's board of directors at its monthly meeting Thursday night.
President and CEO David Musyj included the update as part of his monthly report. Using an interactive map provided by Johns Hopkins University, Musyj reiterated that the vast majority of the cases are still in China and that the number of confirmed cases in Ontario remained at three.
Musyj made the point to reporters following the meeting that there is no cause for alarm in Windsor-Essex despite rumours and incorrect information making the rounds on social media.
"We indicated that there are no confirmed cases locally, that what people see on social media, they have to have confidence that if we do have a confirmed case, we will report it immediately to the community," said Musyj.
Dr. Wajid Ahmed, medical officer of health for the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit, sat in on the board meeting. He also echoed the point that even with the cases that came up in Toronto and London, public health officials took immediate action to minimize any risk.
"Ninety-nine per cent of those cases that we see worldwide are still in China. It's not here," said Ahmed. "The three cases in Ontario, they were already well-isolated cases, and public health acted immediately to contain those cases."
In comparison to influenza that hits Windsor-Essex every winter, Ahmed said people need to understand that they are much more likely to catch the flu than the coronavirus.
According to Johns Hopkins University's coronavirus tally as of 7 p.m. on Thursday, there are 30,830 confirmed cases worldwide that have been reported. Japan had a very distant second to China with 45 cases. The United States had a total of 12, and Canada sits at five, including two confirmed cases in British Columbia.
There were 633 deaths in mainland China, plus one each in Hong Kong and the Philippines.
