Potentially exposed to COVID-19, Saultites monitor themselves for signs, symptoms

Rector Machine Works invested in a major presence at last week's Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada conference at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre and the nearby Fairmont Royal York.

The Sault Ste. Marie machine and fabrication shop sent owner Dave Rector and four employees from March 1 to March 4 to the 88th PDAC convention, a huge affair that attracted 23,000 attendees.

Then, Tuesday night, came word that Sudbury's first case of the COVID-19 infectious disease was a man who had been at PDAC on March 2 and 3.

"As a precautionary measure, we are asking those who attended PDAC 2020 to monitor for symptoms for 14 days,” announced Dr. Penny Sutcliffe, medical officer of health at Public Health Sudbury and Districts.

Hardly 48 hours since Algoma Public Health's Dr. Jennifer Loo had assured City Council that all Ontario COVID-19 cases had so far been linked to international travel, concern had now shifted to the possibility that community spread might be occurring here.

"No one from our team has any symptoms," Dave Rector assured SooToday on Wednesday afternoon.

Rector said he and his staff were "abiding by all suggestions" from Algoma Public Health and Public Health Sudbury and Districts.

That, he said, meant this team was out in the community, but watching themselves carefully for COVID-19 symptoms, which include fever, cough and shortness of breath.

Rector told SooToday he hadn't been contacted directly by either health unit.

Instead, he said, information had been forwarded to him through the City of Sault Ste. Marie's economic development staff and the City of Temiskaming Shores, which had helped co-ordinate northern Ontario participation in PDAC.

A SooToday search of social media posts from the conference found that city employees John Febbraro and Dan Hollingsworth were there.

Neither responded to SooToday requests for information about any role they were playing in tracing contacts or forwarding information.

Sault MP Terry Sheehan was also at the conference.

Asked by SooToday whether he was working from his office or home today, Sheehan's Sault staff curtly replied that they don't provide such information.

Media reports from the convention indicate Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also attended on March 2.

"Ford's office said he is in good health and not experiencing any COVID-19 symptoms, and the premier has not been contacted through the process of contact tracking for the infected man," the Canadian Press reported.

At a news conference on Wednesday morning, Dr. Sutcliffe from Public Health Sudbury referred to PDAC attendees as having potential risk of exposure to the novel coronavirus.

She estimated the number of Sudburians at the Toronto convention as being "in the hundreds" and said many others attended from other Northern Ontario communities.

By afternoon, however, Dr. Sutcliffe was saying the infected Sudbury man, an employee of the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines, was likely not infectious while at PDAC because COVID-19 usually isn't contagious until an infected person shows symptoms.

The U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention says: "Some spread might be possible before people show symptoms; there have been reports of this occurring with this new coronavirus, but this is not thought to be the main way the virus spreads."

Laurentian University announced Wednesday, due to COVID-19 concerns, all classes will be suspended immediately, moved to online delivery until further notice.

The National Basketball Associaton announced Wednesday night that it will suspend its season until further notice after a Utah Jazz player tested positive for the disease.

Actor Tom Hanks and wife Rita Wilson announced they have tested positive for "the coronavirus" in Australia.

In other developments, World Health Organization declared Wednesday that COVID-19 is now considered a pandemic – a global spread of a new disease.

"Pandemic is not a word to use lightly or carelessly," said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general.

"It is a word that, if misused, can cause unreasonable fear, or unjustified acceptance that the fight is over, leading to unnecessary suffering and death."

"Describing the situation as a pandemic does not change WHO’s assessment of the threat posed by this virus. It doesn’t change what WHO is doing, and it doesn’t change what countries should do," Dr. Ghebreyesus told reporters.

"We have never before seen a pandemic sparked by a coronavirus....and we have never before seen a pandemic that can be controlled, at the same time."

"Remind all countries that we are calling on you to activate and scale up your emergency response mechanisms. Communicate with your people about the risks and how they can protect themselves – this is everybody’s business."

"Find, isolate, test and treat every case and trace every contact. Ready your hospitals. Protect and train your health workers. And let’s all look out for each other, because we need each other," Ghebreyesus advised.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced late Wednesday that he is suspending all travel from Europe to the U.S. for 30 days beginning at 11:59 p.m. Friday.

Trump said the restrictions will not apply to passengers from the United Kingdom, and exemptions will be made for “Americans who have undergone appropriate screenings."