South Florida Does Not Have A Confirmed Case Of Coronavirus
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – An eighth case of the coronavirus is confirmed in the U.S., but it is NOT in South Florida.
The Pembroke Pines Police Department saying Saturday that a social media rumor about a patient with coronavirus at Memorial Regional Hospital is not true.
The police department says someone posted an internal email on social media saying a possible case had been confirmed. However, it was quickly followed up with a correction.
Police say the original email was precautionary in nature, and in no way confirmed that there was a case of the deadly virus at the hospital and the email was not meant to be shared.
The newly confirmed case is a Boston man in his 20s. He's a student at the Boston campus of the University of Massachusetts, who recently returned from Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the outbreak, health officials said. The man sought medical care after his return on January 29, according to health officials, and he's been isolated since then. His few close contacts have been identified and are being monitored for symptoms.
The case poses no increased risk to other students on the university's campus, said Dr. Jennifer Lo, medical director of the Boston Public Health Commission.
This is the first case in Massachusetts. There are three confirmed cases in California, one in Washington state, one in Arizona and two in Illinois. The second Illinois case is the first instance of person-to-person transmission in the United States.
The CDC is the only lab in the United States that can confirm cases of the coronavirus. It said Friday there are 241 patients under investigation in 36 states. Among them, 114 had tested negative and 121 had results pending.
There are more than 14,300 cases in China, where more than 300 people have died. At least 26 other countries have reported cases, including three in Japan, two in the UK and two in Australia Saturday.
The US government has declared the virus a public health emergency, and President Donald Trump signed a proclamation suspending the entry of foreign nationals who have traveled in China in the last two weeks.
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