(CNN) It remains unclear why the novel coronavirus seems to hit health care workers harder than it does other sufferers, an expert said Monday. "We know the high mortality in older people, but for reasons that we don't understand front-line health care workers are at great risk for serious illness despite their younger age," said Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. "There's nothing more destabilizing" than health care workers falling ill, he told CNN, and it will take time to determine what is making them sicker than other patients. It wasn't certain whether the Washington doctor contracted the illness through work or community spread, but he complied with all relevant protocols, ACEP said. The New Jersey doctor, an emergency preparedness specialist, was admitted to a hospital with upper respiratory issues and was isolated in an intensive care unit as of Saturday, the AECP said.

Source: CNN March 16, 2020 17:03 UTC