NY ‘ready’ to snuff coronavirus on arrival with training, tech, ‘secret shoppers’

It’s inevitable: The coronavirus is without question coming to the nation’s biggest city.

While no one can say exactly when, city officials are already working overtime to stop the virus dead in its tracks upon arrival.

“The risk in New York City is low at this time, while our level of preparedness is very high,” Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, deputy commissioner for disease control at the city’s health department, told the Daily News. “We’re making sure all our systems are in place to receive the first patient.”

At JFK Airport, screeners from Centers for Disease Control (CDC) are already taking people’s temperatures and asking about symptoms of passengers arriving from central China — where the outbreak began last month in the city of Wuhan.

At public hospitals, staffers are using a recently upgraded intake system to identify and isolate any potential cases. The system uses a series of embedded screen prompts to gather information on travel history and possible recent visits to the Asian epicenter.

Medical staffers walk next to patients waiting to be seen at the Wuhan Red Cross Hospital in Wuhan, China on Jan. 25, 2020. (HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP via Getty Images)

The NYC Health + Hospital system added aggressive new “in-service trainings” in the last week so workers could review protocols and the “donning and doffing” of protective gear such as gloves, gowns, masks and face shields, a spokesman said.

And the city’s health department is lining up staffers with language skills that might prove critical with patients arriving from China.

“I have an entire group that does Hepatitis B work on a day-to-day basis and includes a lot of Mandarin speakers. We’re moving them to be on-call for a scenario where we have someone who’s a Mandarin speaker suspected (of infection),” Daskalakis said.

And then there are the so-called “secret shoppers,” the undercover actors who masquerade as infected patients to constantly test the city’s front-line defenses.

NYC Health + Hospitals staged one of its highest level “secret shopper” drills in December, sending four actors to two hospitals, one ambulatory care center and one post-acute care center.

The undercover patients met with unsuspecting personnel and described symptoms and travel histories consistent with Ebola infection. All four were quickly identified, officials said.

“We were able to meet our overall goals — to identify the patient within 5 to 10 minutes of presentation — and see that the processes we have in place are effective,” said Dr. Syra Madad, senior director of the special pathogens program at NYC Health + Hospitals, to The News.

One of the actors was actually taken to Bellevue Hospital by ambulance and placed in a biocontainment setting, she said.

The other three would have been transported too, but once the proper health department notifications went out, the drill organizers halted the EMS calls, the actors stopped pretending and the transfers to Bellevue were only “simulated,” Madad explained.

“The overall outcome of the exercise was a success,” she told The News. “I think Ebola is the epitome. If you’re prepared for Ebola, you’re ready for anything.”

The city proved its mettle against Ebola in October 2014, after a Harlem doctor contracted the disease while treating patients in West Africa.

Dr. Craig Spencer was rushed to Bellevue in a protective suit by FDNY EMS and was quarantined in one of the hospital isolation units until he recovered.

Spencer was working with Doctors Without Borders in Guinea, where he was exposed to Ebola.

A Japan Airlines worker (center) wears a face mask while working inside a terminal at Los Angeles International Airport on Jan. 23, 2020 in Los Angeles, Ca. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Private hospitals are getting in on the “secret shopper” action too.

Northwell, the state’s largest health care provider, instituted “just in time” retraining in the last week and plans to send out secret shoppers posing as coronavirus patients “very, very soon,” Dr. Mark Jarrett, the company’s chief quality officer told The News.

“We’ve been planning secret shoppers over the last two days. Once everything in place with retraining, we’ll send them in during the day and on weekends and off-hours too,” he said.

“It’s very important. We’re not doing it to play ‘gotcha.’ It’s not done to be punitive but to help with teaching. If you don’t test, you don’t know,” said Jarrett.

Northwell’s system includes Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan and Long Island Jewish in New Hyde Park, one of the facilities set to receive possible coronavirus cases landing at JFK.

All the preparation is serious business.

When SARS erupted in China in 2002, it infected more than 8,000 people and killed 774 before disappearing thanks to public health measures. In 2012, another virus dubbed MERS began sickening people in Saudi Arabia and killed more than 850 victims.

While the coronavirus death toll remains low, Chinese President Xi Jinping called the situation “grave” on Saturday and imposed further travel restrictions, including banning all group tours. In Hong Kong, where the disease has spread, officials announced that schools will remain closed through Feb. 17, adding two weeks off to a scheduled holiday week.

Symptoms are similar to those of the influenza virus — fever, cough and shortness of breath — and require a medical test to diagnose. Anyone who suspects they might be a carrier should contact their doctor immediately, officials said.

Coronavirus outbreak in China and overseas

Yet New Yorkers out celebrating the Chinese New Year on Saturday expressed little concern about the virus responsible for infecting more than 1,300 people, killing 41 and forcing the quarantine of millions.

“I guess it’s just the New York attitude,” explained Jonathan Chin, 28, of Flushing. “You just try to get through the day, and you don’t really think about anything else other than what you’re doing … You know, we’ve got tunnel vision.”

Others in Manhattan’s Chinese enclave admitted they were on edge and lamented the overlap with celebrations for the Year of the Rat.

Monica Zhong, 15 was wearing a mask and watching fireworks with her friends.

“In China our family members are afraid, the government is telling them to not go out of home and to stay away from everyone. It’s Chinese New Year everyone would gather together but now the government is saying not to.”

She said she wasn’t afraid to go out.

“Not today but in the future yes.”

While minds may be at ease here, hearts are heavy for loved ones in China.

“I’m worried about it,” said Michael Lo, 25, who moved to New York from Hong Kong in 2018. “China does not have a good virus control system. They just let anyone anywhere. It has already spread to Hong Kong. I have friends there, and they are worried.”
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