The World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a global health emergency on Thursday after the first person-to-person transmission of the disease in the United States was reported. And while medical providers in the Flathead Valley say they are monitoring the outbreak closely and have protocols in place should the disease make its way here, they say its arrival is unlikely and at this present time, the public should primarily focus on battling the flu.

According to medical leaders, Kalispell Regional Healthcare and the Flathead City-County Health Department staff are trained to identify coronavirus cases. Should the county see a confirmed case of the disease - which researchers believe originated in Wuhan, China - hospitals and clinics valley-wide can initiate emergency preparedness protocols, if needed.

“With only six confirmed cases in the United States, this area is at a very low risk for this strain of Coronavirus,” said Jeffrey Tjaden, MD, an infectious disease physician at Kalispell Regional. “Nevertheless, we are always prepared for outbreaks like these and we will continue to take all necessary precautionary measures to ensure our community’s safety.”

Kalispell Regional Healthcare spearheads annual emergency preparedness drills to prepare for a wide range of possibilities.

Two years ago, the hospital and other health-care providers simulated a measles outbreak. Dozens of medical personnel, law enforcement officials and others participated in the drill and went over the measures that should be taken to contain and treat the highly infectious airborne disease. In 2019, Kalispell Regional and other necessary partners reviewed what should happen in the event of a mass casualty crash - like at the airport for instance.

“The hospitals and county meet all the time to discuss emergency preparedness and have for years,” said Jennifer Rankosky. “We have a group that meets every other month to discuss emerging issues and touch base and then we report back to the necessary groups and committees. It’s all encompassing.”

Those other necessary groups include the Flathead County Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC), firefighters, law enforcement and others. According to Rankosky and others, these widespread efforts and regular meetings ramp up when diseases like Ebola, H1N1 (swine flu), and now, the coronavirus, emerge.

“We already have a well-established infrastructure for communication, but it is currently very active with regard to coronavirus,” said Ashley Peters, Kalispell Regional’s manager of infection prevention. “The hospital system and health department have a great relationship and the county will be the lead communicator on this until we identify any cases, which is unlikely.”

As of Friday morning, nearly 10,000 cases of the coronavirus had been reported and the death toll was at just over 200 people, with the vast majority of fatalities occurring among susceptible populations such as elders, infants and those with respiratory issues. There has not been a single death outside of China to date and the spread to other countries has been fairly minimal, but still, the virus has caused extensive pandemonium.

Tjaden says while havoc to a certain degree is justified in countries such as China, medical officials are saying an outbreak in the United States is unlikely, and one in Montana is “very unlikely.”

“There’s a lot of unanswered questions right now, but by comparison if you are looking specifically at the number of deaths, diseases like influenza are multitudes higher,” Tjaden said. “There are a lot of infectious diseases here routinely that cause more deaths. For this year alone, we are at 8,000 deaths from influenza in the United States, so get your flu shots.”

Tjaden also compared the new coronavirus to others in history such as SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) and MERS (Middle East respiratory system) - two diseases that experienced much higher rates of death at the height of the outbreaks.

Although local experts say it is rare the coronavirus will appear in Montana, Kalispell Regional has identified several steps the community can take to protect their health.

The hospital is urging people who have traveled to China in the last 14 days and are experiencing symptoms of a cold, flu or pneumonia, or have made contact with others who have traveled to China and are exhibiting symptoms, to call a health provider immediately. If one has not been to east or southeast Asia since early January, the risk of having the virus is very low and therefore, officials say it’s “critically important” not to assume that they have this novel strain of Coronavirus.

The Flathead City-County Health Department has also established an information-only hotline for the community to learn updates. This hotline can be reached at 406-751-8188.

Reporter Kianna Gardner can be reached at 758-4407 or kgardner@dailyinterlake.com