A New Jersey resident suspected of having the coronavirus is being tested while kept in isolation at a local hospital.
The patient, whose identity and gender are unknown, is being held in quarantine at Bayshore Medical Center in Holmdel.
‘Please rest assured that our health care team is taking every precaution in caring for this isolated patient and determining an accurate diagnosis,’ Dr. Jerry M. Zuckerman, the vice president of Infection Prevention and Control for Hackensack Meridian Health Bayshore Medical Center, said in an email to clinicians on Friday.
‘Led by our Infection Prevention team, they are working with New Jersey’s Department of Health in accordance with protocols provided by the US Centers for Disease Control…’
In the email which was obtained by Asbury Park Press, Zuckerman said that the patient has been placed in isolation.
The patient, whose identity and gender are unknown, is being held in quarantine at Bayshore Medical Center in Holmdel, New Jersey
The hospital has taken precautionary measures, including the use of ‘personal protective equipment’ by staff as well as visitor restrictions, according to Zuckerman.
‘We continue to screen patients with appropriate symptoms for travel history to China, Italy, Iran, Japan, and South Korea,’ Zuckerman said.
‘Symptoms include fever, cough and shortness of breath.’
New Jersey authorities say that at least 22 residents of Monmouth and Ocean Counties have been quarantined at their homes after they returned from trips to countries that have been affected by the outbreak.
Authorities say that the measures are purely precautionary as none of the people in quarantine have shown any symptoms as of Wednesday.
So far, nearly 86,000 people in at least 53 countries have been infected with coronavirus.
Of those who have been infected, a reported 2,933 have died – most of them in China.
In recent days, the number of new infections outside of China has outpaced those within the country. The rapid spread has sent global financial markets spiraling.
As of early Saturday morning, there were at least 67 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the United States.
As of early Saturday morning, there were at least 67 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the United States. The image above from the National Institutes of Health shows SARS-CoV-2, or 2019-nCoV, the virus that causes COVID-19, which is responsible for the current outbreak
A majority of those cases were Americans who were on board the Diamond Princess cruise ship that sailed in the waters off the Far East, including Japan and Hong Kong.
At least five people who contracted coronavirus on the ship died and hundreds more were infected.
The State Department arranged for two planes to evacuate Americans who were quarantined on the ship and return them to the US.
Upon their return, they were placed in quarantine at military bases.
New Jersey and Connecticut received approval from the federal government to administer a test for the virus, thus eliminating the need to send samples out of state.
Officials in Connecticut now say that the approval means that patients can know if they’ve been infected within 24 to 48 hours.
‘We recently got a little good news,’ Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont said.
‘We are now allowed to test, at least in our laboratory in Rocky Hill, our own public health center.
‘That’s a positive development, but we need more resources from our federal government.’