The California woman whotested positive for coronavirus despite having no contactwith anyone with the virus is in “serious condition,” her congressman, California Rep. John Garamendi,told CNN.
The source ofher coronavirus transmissionhas been a mystery to health officials since the woman, from Solano County in Northern California, was diagnosed on Wednesday. The woman has not traveled recently, and it does not appear that she’s come in contact with anyone who could have had the disease.
And despite concerns from doctors that she had coronavirus,the woman was not tested for the virusfor nearly a week based on Centers for Disease Control regulations, which had limited testing only to people who have recently returned from China or close contacts of people who have already been diagnosed with coronavirus. The CDChas since expanded testingto anyone whom doctors suspect has coronavirus.
Based on this woman, Solano County Public Health hasdeclared a local emergencyto help them investigate the cause of her illness.
“This does appear to be a person who genuinely did acquire their illness in the community,” Solano County Public Health Officer Dr. Bela Matyas said in a news conference Thursday, according to CNN.
In another interview with MSNBC, Garamendi said that the woman “is very, very sick, at this moment.” The congressman also called out the CDC’s response to the coronavirus and said that the agency needs to allow states to independently test suspected coronavirus cases.
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The CDC said Tuesday that Americansshould start preparing for coronavirusto spread in the U.S. with the “expectation that this could be bad.”
“It’s not so much of a question of if this will happen in this country anymore but a question of when this will happen,” Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the CDC, said in a press briefing.
Messonnier said that Americans should establish plans for what they would do in case of school and office closures. The CDC also says that the best prevention methods are basic forms of hygiene — careful handwashing, avoiding touching the face, moving away from people who are coughing or sneezing and staying home at signs of illness.
source: people.com
