CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Nine days ago, Governor Roy Cooper launched the North Carolina Coronavirus Task Force. In that time, the team of doctors and members of the Department of Health and Human Services have been working with local health departments and clinicians to evaluate any potential cases and coordinate care and testing as needed.
Working closely with the CDC, the department is coordinating health information sharing as this situation continues to evolve in China and beyond.
North Carolina has not had any confirmed cases of coronavirus. Mecklenburg County has reported there are four people being monitored now for any symptoms of COVID-19.
For task force team leader Dr. Elizabeth Cuervo Tilson, the biggest threat right now in North Carolina is the influenza virus, or flu.
"The risk to North Carolinians remains very low for contracting Novel coronavirus." said Dr. Cuervo Tilson. "The risk of flu, which is widespread in North Carolina, is a much greater risk. People should still get a flu shot. That is the much bigger concern right now."
However, experts on China and Chinese Pharmaceutical Manufacturing have raised concerns over what the Food and Drug Administration calls the "likely impact the medical product supply chain, including potential disruptions to supply or shortages of critical medical products in the U.S."
WCNC.com asked Dr. Cuervo Tilson about the claims made by Author Rosemary Gibson, Senior Advisor at The Hastings Center, in which she explained that if conditions do not improve in the coming weeks across China, shortages in medicines will happen by late March.
Everything from chemotherapy drugs, HIV, antibiotics, blood pressure, Alzheimer's, and even birth control could run dangerously low, or out.
Gibson documented in her book, China Rx: Exposing the Risks of America's Dependence on China for Medicine, that 80% of the generic medications Americans use-- start their process in Chinese factories. The U.S. is not alone, all of Europe, Australia, India, and other nations depend on China for medicine.
WCNC.com asked Dr. Cuervo Tilson if she has heard anything about any possible delays with pharmaceutical drugs coming into America:
"So if we think about China, China is a huge Global Economy. I think there is a recognition that a supply chain for multiple things might be impacted by the status of Novel coronavirus in China. So I think the concern about supply chain is a legitimate concern. What I would say in North Carolina, what we're doing is we have a very well organized incident team that is working with our health care providers."
The task force says they are preparing for the worst and hoping for the best. The task force tells WCNC.com they are working to be as "prepared as possible" including assessments of critical stock.
The task force is urging its partners to be mindful before using recourses like face masks right now that might be needed later on.
"We are trying to put out the message that if you are feeling well, you do not need a face mask."
The FDA has evacuated all of its personnel from China, so there is very little information to report right now on whether pharmaceutical factories are running, and what effect the virus is happening on productivity.
As of February 20, the World Health Organization reports there have been 75,781 confirmed cases of COVID-19 virus, and 2,130 deaths across 30 countries, including the U.S.