North Carolina’s first confirmed case of coronavirus has been traced to the nursing home in Seattle where an outbreak killed at least six residents — raising fears of further spread after the patient took a flight home after getting infected.
‘The person from Wake County, North Carolina traveled to the state of Washington and was exposed at a long-term care facility where there is an outbreak of the virus,’ North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper said at a press conference on Tuesday.
‘The person is doing well and is in isolation at home,’ Cooper said, declining to offer more details about the patient due to privacy concerns.
The patient is reportedly male. At the Life Care Center of Kirkland near Seattle, an outbreak was first detected on Saturday. Six residents of the long-term care facility have died of the virus.
North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper said at a press conference on Tuesday that the state’s first coronavirus patient had recently visited a nursing home in Washington with an outbreak
At the Life Care Center of Kirkland near Seattle, a coronavirus outbreak was first detected on Saturday. Six residents of the facility have died of the virus
Mandy Cohen, the North Carolina’s secretary of Health and Human Services, said the patient returned to North Carolina on a plane.
The flight from Sea-Tac International to Raleigh-Durham is about five hours long, and more than 2,300 miles.
Officials are informing others on the flight and working to trace other contacts the person may have had, Cohen said.
North Carolina health officials conducted the presumptive test on the new patient, and are also sending a sample to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for further confirmation.
‘I know that people are worried about this virus, and I want to assure you that the state of North Carolina is prepared,’ said Cooper, a Democrat. ‘Our most important work is keeping people healthy and safe.’
‘Our task force and state agencies are working closely with local health departments, health care providers and others to quickly identify and respond to cases that might occur,’ he said.
Medics transport a person on a stretcher into an ambulance at the Life Care Center of Kirkland, a long-term care facility linked to several confirmed coronavirus cases, on Tuesday
The outbreak at the Life Care Center of Kirkland was first detected on Saturday, but it later emerged that two patients who previously died tested for coronavirus posthumously
The overall number of infections in the U.S. climbed past 100 on Tuesday, scattered across at least 15 states, with 27 cases in Washington alone.
‘What is happening now in the United States may be the beginning of what is happening abroad,’ said Dr. Nancy Messonnier of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Messonier that in China, where the outbreak began more than two months ago, older and sicker people are about twice as likely to become seriously ill as those who are younger and healthier.
Most cases have been mild, and the virus’ overall mortality rate is estimated at 2 to 3 percent.
In suburban Seattle, 27 firefighters and paramedics who responded to calls at the outbreak nursing home were tested for the virus Tuesday using a drive-thru system set up in a hospital parking area.
Thirty-year-old firefighter Kevin Grimstad took care of two patients Jan. 29 at Life Care Center in Kirkland. He is among 10 from the Kirkland Fire Department who developed symptoms after calls to the nursing facility.
Grimstad, his wife and 6-month-old son have taken turns recovering from fevers, coughs and congestion. They’re all feeling better, but wish they knew more about the virus.
‘It’s crazy. A couple of weeks ago, it seemed like a foreign thing and now we´re getting tested,’ Grimstad said. ‘If I was exposed a month ago, the problem is more widespread than we know.’
An updated map shows the states with confirmed coronavirus cases and current totals
In the nation’s capital, officials moved on a number of fronts.
A bipartisan $7.5 billion emergency bill to fund the government’s response to the outbreak worked its way through Congress.
The Federal Reserve announced the biggest interest-rate cut in over a decade to try to fend off damage to the U.S. economy from the factory shutdowns, travel restrictions and other disruptions around the globe. On Wall Street, stocks rallied briefly on the news, then went into another steep slide, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average losing 785 points on the day, or 2.9%.
‘We have seen a broader spread of the virus. So, we saw a risk to the economy and we chose to act,’ Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said.
Also, the Food and Drug and Administration sought to ease a shortage of face masks by giving health care workers the OK to use an industrial type of respirator mask designed to protect construction crews from dust and debris.
Lawmakers on Capitol Hill expressed skepticism about U.S. health officials’ claims that testing for the new virus should be widely available soon. CDC test kits delivered to states and cities in January proved faulty.
Authorities have said labs across the country should have the capacity to run as many as 1 million tests by the end of the week.