The husband from San Benito County California had recently traveled to Wuhan, China which is the center of the virus outbreak and had potentially passed the disease to his wife, who did not go to China. Both never been hospitalized, but they never left their home.
What We Know:
- The couple’s diagnosis brings the total number of positive cases in the United States up to 11. The ninth case was in Santa Clara County, California, which was announced on Sunday afternoon. The other human to human transmission occurred last week in Illinois.
- There have been six cases in California, two in Illinois and one in Massachusetts, Arizona, and Washington.
- According to officials from the Philippines Department of Health, the first death case occurred in China. A 44-year-old man died after contracting coronavirus from his friend. His friend is a 38-year-old woman who was the first person with a confirmed case in the Philippines. The man, who is from Wuhan China, arrived in the Philippines and traveled through Hong Kong on January 21. The man tragically passed away on Saturday.
- A week before his death, he was admitted to the hospital for pneumonia after experiencing fever, cough, and a sore throat. Officials say the woman remains in isolation in a Manila hospital.
- As of Sunday morning, 14,380 people have been exposed to the virus, and 304 people have died. Outside of China, there were at least 169 cases, and it has been confirmed in 25 countries.
- Philippines’ Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III expressed his condolences to the deceased patient’s family and wants to emphasize for the public “that this is an imported case with no evidence of local transmission”.
- Health experts around the world are debating how the virus is transmitted. U.S. health officials said there is not enough data to determine whether the virus is transmitted before the patient is infected.
- The U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar issued a public health emergency and temporary travel ban.
- On Sunday, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced that flights entering the country from China would be re-routed with no additional cost to the passenger to seven airports designated for screenings. These airports will include John F. Kennedy in New York, Chicago O’Hare in Illinois, Seattle-Tacoma in Washington, Daniel K. Inouye in Hawaii, Hartsfield-Jackson in Georgia, as well as San Francisco and Los Angeles in California. Additional airports were added by DHS.
We will continue to follow this story and provide updates.
