The account exemplifies the fine line health officials are navigating between fear about the new coronavirus and hopes of increasing preparedness over an outbreak that has taken more than 360 lives and infected at least 17,238 people in China since late December — and could become a pandemic.
On Sunday, state and local health officials said two Miami University students tested negative for the deadly coronavirus and added their are no other cases in Ohio.
Even though the two Miami University students tested negative, a state health official said she understands “there’s still a lot of concern” in the Oxford community and around the country.
“What we are doing in Ohio is working,” said Dr. Amy Acton, Ohio Department of Health director.
ODH received results of the three-part test — a blood draw, a nasal swab and a mucus sample — from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta on Sunday afternoon, Acton said. A few hours later, a mass communication went out to the Oxford campus.
Acton called the two students, who had traveled to China and presented flu-like symptoms on Jan. 27, the first day of classes, “victims of circumstances,” and they were released from isolation in their residence on Sunday.
“They are thrilled,” Acton said of the students the university has declined to identify, except to say they traveled to China during Miami’s six-week break between semesters.
Jennifer Bailer, Butler County Health Department commissioner, said she had been “hoping and praying” for negative results. She said the public health agencies benefited from the students’ prompt actions when they reported their illness to Student Health Services.
“They did everything right,” she said. “The system worked.”
The students have been cleared to “conduct normal activities,” Bailer said.
Some Miami students who were in China have not yet completed the 14-day incubation period and are being self-monitored.
Despite the negative test results, Miami University has restricted university-sponsored travel to China for all faculty, staff and students for several weeks. Three summer China programs this year have also been redirected, one Miami student studying abroad in China has returned to the Oxford campus and another student who planned to study in China this semester is staying in Oxford, officials said.
Area hospitals have started asking patients showing flu-like symptoms about their recent travel history, and airlines are restricting flights into China, where the first case of coronavirus was confirmed in December.
Only a handful of American airports are permitted to receive flights from China. The scenes were described as confusing on Monday as the first federally mandated quarantine in more than a half-century took effect.
China’s Health Commission reported on Sunday that there were 475 recoveries and 361 deaths nationwide, according to the New York Times. A total of 349 people died in mainland China.
Acton said the novel disease is evolving and changing “hour by hour.”
Melanie Amato, ODH press secretary, said the coronavirus scare in Oxford was “a great example” on how partnership works between the state, the Hamilton and Middletown city health departments and the communities.
“Ohio will remain prepared and we will continue to closely monitor the situation in conjunction with CDC and are ready to respond if necessary,” she said.
Health and university officials have urged the public to show compassion toward international students. Acton said there was “a huge need” for empathy.
Miami has 17,327 undergraduate and 2,607 graduate students on its Oxford campus. Students from China are the university’s largest population of international students with 2,334 enrolled.
About a dozen Miami University Regional campus students in Hamilton and Middletown list their home residence near the area in Wuhan City where the outbreak began in December, according to school officials. Miami officials said Chinese students on both of those campuses have been checked and no issues have been reported.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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