World Health Organization officials are particularly worried about a small group of Coronavirus patients in England and France who contracted the disease without any travel to China.
“The detection of this small number of cases could be the spark that becomes a bigger fire, but for now it’s only a spark,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters in Geneva this week.
Schools in the United States are trying to limit student contact with the virus by cutting exchange programs to China and staying on alert for the first signs of the disease.
The respiratory disease has sickened more than 40,000 people worldwide and killed at least 910, mostly in China. Doctors are considering several new potential U.S. cases.
The William Penn Charter School in Philadelphia canceled its two-week-long Chinese student exchange program after a student was tested for the coronavirus, although it turned out to be negative.
The Chula Vista Elementary School District in San Diego sent this letter to parents last week: “During the outbreak, we ask any students who have a fever of 100.4 Fahrenheit or greater to be kept home until they have no fever for 24 hours, without fever medication.”
Some schools are asking students who have traveled to the region not to attend classes.