A man in his 40s, who regularly goes to China for work, is presumed to have the novel coronavirus.
Dr. Bonnie Henry says the man has voluntarily isolated himself since returning to Canada last week and no members of his family have shown any symptoms as they are being monitored by health officials.
The government says the man began showing symptoms 24 hours after returning home. The majority of his most recent trip to China was spent in Wuhan, the city at the centre of an outbreak in that country.
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He contacted a primary health-care provider on Sunday to notify them he had travelled to Wuhan and was experiencing symptoms before coming in for assessment and treatment.
The province expects to have tests results from the man’s case back from the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg within 48 hours.
If confirmed, it would be the first case of coronavirus in B.C.
Meanwhile, parents north of Toronto are circulating a petition online urging schools to ask some students to stay home for 17 days of “self-quarantine.”
“The school should keep tracking status of the students who recently travelled to China (not just Wuhan, any city of China),” the petition reads. “We ask that the school board send out a communication to all parents requesting students who or whose families have recently returned from China, to stay at home and keep isolated for a minimum of 17 days for the purpose of self-quarantine.”
The CDC states that symptoms from the coronavirus “may appear in as few as (two) days or as long as 14 after exposure.”
“Individuals who make assumptions, even with positive intentions of safety, about the risk of others, request or demand quarantine can be seen as demonstrating bias and racism,” the board chair and director of education of York Region District School Board wrote.
They said that while the virus is believed to have originated in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, it’s important that it not be seen as a “Chinese virus.”
“At times such as this, we must come together as Canadians and avoid any hint of xenophobia, which in this case can victimize our East Asian Chinese community,” the letter said.
“Situations such as these can regrettably give rise to discrimination based on perceptions, stereotypes and hate.”
A spokesperson for the school board said the letter was issued in response to “misinformation” circulating in the community, particularly on social media.
So far, more than 9,000 people have signed the petition.
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