Coronavirus Outbreak

Containing coronavirus outbreaks .

Test positive for the virus.

So far, that brings the total cases of coronavirus among white house staffers to over a dozen, including the president's his family.

Virus containment is now an issue.

Waay 31's ashley carter joins us live with more on a local doctors take on controlling coronavirus outbreaks.

Ashley -- what do experts say are the first steps in containing an outbreak?

Huntsville hospital infectious disease specialist doctor ali hassoun says their are three main ways to contain an outbreak and the first thing they want to do is find out who was first infected by the virus then contact trace and test others who were possibly exposed by that person.

Doctor hassoun says in order to prevent an outbreak it's crucial to make sure anyone who is exposed to the virus follows quarantine protocols and get re-tested before the go back to their normal activities he says doctors here in huntsville will normally repeat the test every 5-7 days.

He says he's not sure what testing is being done at the white house but says some tests are able to pick up traces of the virus earlier than others "my suspicion is they do the rapid test which is the antigen as we call it.

And this is not as sensitive as the one we do at the hospital" dr. hassoun says another part in containing an outbreak is tracking your symptoms as you quarantine.

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