Montgomery County Officials Signing Emergency Disaster Declaration In Response To Potential Coronavirus Outbreak
NORRISTOWN, Pa. (CBS) -- Montgomery County officials are signing an emergency disaster declaration in response to a potential coronavirus outbreak. State officials announced two more presumptive COVID-19 cases on Sunday afternoon, bringing the total in the county to four.
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf announced the first two presumptive positive cases on Saturday. On Sunday, state health officials announced two more cases -- a man and woman who live together in Lower Merion Township.
Montgomery County Board of Commissioner Dr. Valerie Arkoosh said in a press conference Sunday she will sign a declaration of disaster emergency. The declaration will provide increased support to agencies, departments and local municipalities involved in the response to the virus.
"It actually frees up some resources for us as a county so that we can make sure that we are prepared for what we believe will be more cases," Arkoosh said.
Standing inside the Montgomery County Emergency Operation Center, the county commissioners, Office of Public Health and Department of Public Safety announced two people acquired the virus from travel to another part of the U.S.
One of the patients is a woman from Worchester Township and another patient is a man from Lower Gwynedd Township, according to authorities.
State health officials say the two other patients were exposed to the virus from international travel.
All four patients have mild symptoms and are in isolation at their homes.
Montgomery County health officials say they will be checking in on them on a daily basis.
Officials added that they believe it is "inevitable" they will see more cases in the county.
"Spread is expected, but please don't panic. There has been no evidence of community transmission in Montgomery County," Arkoosh said.
Residents in Montgomery County are concerned.
"We're grateful that the symptoms are mild, but never the less it's a very, very scary illness," Hezy Adesanya, of Ambler, said.
"My wife is freaking out about it a little bit more because we have a 2-year-old, but for me, if it spreads like the flu, it's not really much you can do about it," Kevin Candito said.
"It's definitely concerning and alarming, but it will be interesting to see how it plays out," David Rohrbach said.
The county's health department has been working with the state's health department to conduct contact tracing.
The Montgomery County commissioners are now asking private employers across the county for help.
"For the public good, if our employers could work with employees and temporarily offer paid sick leave, that would be a tremendous help," Vice Chair Kenneth Lawrence said.
Germantown Academy in Montgomery County will be closed for three days after school officials say one of the student's family members is one of the presumptive positive coronavirus cases in the county.
There are no confirmed coronavirus cases in Philadelphia. Despite the coronavirus cases, people have been going about, living their lives.
"This is the last stop before WrestleMania," a fan said.
Thousands of people rushed into the Wells Fargo Center on Sunday evening for the WWE's annual Elimination Chamber pay-per-view event.
Despite health concerns of the coronavirus, people are making sure they're safe -- some even brought their own hand sanitizer and seat wipes to the arena on Sunday night.
"People are going to be touching things and I want to keep my hands clean," fan Jeff Sirkin said.
"The CDC right now is telling us to wash our hands and don't touch your face, so I think as long as everyone does that, everybody will be fine," fan Bri Hartman said.
Officials say one of the infected Pennsylvania men recently visited Palm Beach, Florida, but there are no current presumptive positive cases there.
CBS3's Chantee Lans and Matt Petrillo contributed to this report.
