Second ‘unknown origin’ case of coronavirus is confirmed in California

The second ‘unknown origin’ case of coronavirus to hit the US has been confirmed in California.

A 65-year-old resident of Santa Clara County, California, has tested positive for the disease, sources close to the matter told The Washington Post Friday.

The unnamed individual had not recently returned from a foreign country, and had not been in contact with another confirmed case.

This latest instance of possible community spread of the deadly disease comes hot on the heels of the first case – about 90 miles away in Solano County – and suggests that fears of the disease spreading locally in the US is now becoming a real danger. 

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention revealed the first case of community transmission Wednesday in a woman in Solano County, near Sacramento. 

The unnamed woman had not recently traveled to China, and none of her immediate family or close contacts had the virus or were suspected of having it. 

It is not known if the two cases are connected in any way.

They are located just 90 miles apart in Solano County and Santa Clara County.  

If continued contact tracing doesn’t turn up a source of the virus in these two cases, it will indicate that the infection is spreading in US communities, independent of travel history. 

In that case, health officials will need to shift tactics and start testing people with no recent history of travel to China or close contacts with such a history for coronavirus – but at this rate, they won’t have nearly enough tests to do so. 

The CDC revealed Wednesday that the US had its first case of possible community transmission. 

The patient is being treated at UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, where tests for the virus came back positive Wednesday. 

The first unknown origin case is being treated at UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, where tests for the virus came back positive Wednesday

This story is developing