The Vermont Department of Health says there are no suspected cases of coronavirus in the state, though the department is the worldwide .
The new coronavirus was . Thousands of cases have been identified in that country and, as of Tuesday, .
The virus is spreading to other countries as well 鈥� including the U.S., where there are of the respiratory illness and more than 100 possible cases, including
There are , including ones that cause only mild respiratory disease like a cold. Others are more serious, like severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS). Symptoms include fever, cough and shortness of breath.
The virus is spread though contact with an infected person. Health officials are who have visited Wuhan or Hubei Province in China in recent weeks to immediately contact a doctor if they experience any possible symptoms of the virus.
More from NPR: [Jan. 24]
Since there are currently few confirmed cases in the U.S, the risk of exposure is low, according to state epidemiologist Patsy Kelso 鈥� but she said that could change.
鈥淲e may start to see lots more cases in the U.S. or we might see relatively few," she said. 鈥淲e just don't know yet because there's so many things we don't know about how this virus behaves. 鈥� We don't know how easily it can be transmitted from person to person. We don't know if it can be transmitted before people are symptomatic.鈥�
While there are currently no cases in Vermont, Kelso said she wouldn鈥檛 be surprised if the state eventually had one. She said the department is getting the latest updates from the and communicating with state health care providers.
鈥淲e鈥檙e taking calls and discussing possible scenarios, so we鈥檙e all over it,鈥� Kelso said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e very well-prepared in the event we do end up having a case here.鈥�
