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Baylor University on edge after student tested for suspected coronavirus

Posted at 11:04 PM, Jan 24, 2020
and last updated 2020-01-25 00:04:25-05

WACO, TX — Bobby Hansen says he's noticed a few more his friends getting sick lately.

"I was sitting right over here in front of the coffee shop earlier. They pulled up and one of the friends in the backseat was like, "I think he's got the coronavirus or whatever," and I'm like, "uh...leave!"" he said.

Flu season didn't really bother him, until he learned a Baylor student might have the novel coronavirus.

"What we know is that their travel history involved a travel to China, and because of that, that prompted the testing," said Kelly Craine of the Waco-McLennan County Health District.

Baylor isolated that student to their own room, and sanitized the dorm room as well as the residence hall.

What would happened if the Texas coronavirus became a national problem? The Johnson County Emergency Management Director said on KRLD late Friday that there are nationwide stockpiles of medicine in strategic locations around the country. Emergency managers would get or receive the medicine and distribute it through schools in the event of a certain illness.

For now, that's not the concern because the risk factors remain so specific.

”Right now, the highest risk is anyone who has had a travel history to Wuhan, China, specifically. If you don't have that travel history, your risk is very, very low," said Craine.

Baylor is not the only Texas university to experience a potential case. The Brazos County Health District is investigating after a Texas A&M student may have contracted a suspected case of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV).

The CDC is currently testing samples from both students to determine if their illness is in fact the novel coronavirus.