Reuters :
The Oregon Health Authority on Friday announced the state’s first “presumptive” case of coronavirus, in an adult who has not traveled to a country where the virus is circulating or had close contact with another person known to be infected.
The agency said it was still waiting for the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to confirm positive test results of a sample taken from the individual, a resident of Washington County, near Portland, who began exhibiting symptoms on Feb 19.
If confirmed, the case would mark the third diagnosis of a person in the United States to have contracted the virus through community transmission, meaning the virus is now spreading within at least three separate locations on the US West Coast.
The first two cases have been identified in California – one in Santa Clara County, home to the Silicon Valley high-tech hub, and another in Solano County, about 90 miles (145 km) to the north. Washington County, Oregon, is about 600 miles farther north.
“Our first concern is for this individual, to make sure they’re being cared for and is able to recover,” the health authority’s director, Patrick Allen, said in a statement.
Oregon officials are moving to trace any contacts the patient had with others to alert them to a possible exposure and how they can obtain medical treatment if needed.
The infected individual “spent time” in a school in the Lake Oswego school district and may have exposed students and staff at the school, the state agency said.
The Oregon Health Authority on Friday announced the state’s first “presumptive” case of coronavirus, in an adult who has not traveled to a country where the virus is circulating or had close contact with another person known to be infected.
The agency said it was still waiting for the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to confirm positive test results of a sample taken from the individual, a resident of Washington County, near Portland, who began exhibiting symptoms on Feb 19.
If confirmed, the case would mark the third diagnosis of a person in the United States to have contracted the virus through community transmission, meaning the virus is now spreading within at least three separate locations on the US West Coast.
The first two cases have been identified in California – one in Santa Clara County, home to the Silicon Valley high-tech hub, and another in Solano County, about 90 miles (145 km) to the north. Washington County, Oregon, is about 600 miles farther north.
“Our first concern is for this individual, to make sure they’re being cared for and is able to recover,” the health authority’s director, Patrick Allen, said in a statement.
Oregon officials are moving to trace any contacts the patient had with others to alert them to a possible exposure and how they can obtain medical treatment if needed.
The infected individual “spent time” in a school in the Lake Oswego school district and may have exposed students and staff at the school, the state agency said.
