CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Disease specialists at Driscoll Children's Hospital spoke with 3News Friday about what they are doing to prepare for any potential outbreaks of the COVID-19 coronavirus in town.
"Yes, we should be concerned, but at the same time reassured that there are measures in place," said Dr. Jaime Fergie, Director of Infectious Diseases at Driscoll Children's Hospital. "We have a strong health department right now that we are coordinating with all the hospitals. We have resources and we're getting more resources."
Doctors confirmed there are still no cases of the virus locally, but the hospital is working with the Public Health Department to set up mobile testing centers around the city once we receive the testing kits on March 23.
"We have already designated a floor in our hospital that will be designated to COVID-19 patients only," said Dr. Mary Dale Peterson, Executive Vice President and COO of Driscoll Children's Hospital.
Though the world seems to be in a panic, doctors said that the extra efforts by the community will do more than just keep everyone safe.
"All of this extra awareness about the transmission is going to have the benefit to bring down the number of cases of many other viruses," Fergie said. "We're going to see less influenza, less RSV, less of the common coronavirus, because people are doing now more of the hand sanitation, more of the hand washing."
Doctors are hoping that President Donald Trump's national emergency declaration Friday could bring more medical supplies to the hospital since they are having limited supplies of masks, gloves and sanitizing solutions.
Meanwhile, as the whole world continues to fight the pandemic, researchers are hypothesizing how exactly it all started.
"These are animal to human transmission, so it's a jump in a species. Usually go to a bat to intermediate host, another mammal to humans," Fergie said
As for they panicked shoppers stocking up on hand sanitizers, doctors said you don't necessarily need it.
"When you're at home, soap and water is really effective for de-germing your hands," Peterson said.
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