Westport Coronavirus: Town Monitoring 14 Exposed To COVID-19

WESTPORT, CT — The 14 Westport partygoers who were exposed to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) at a March 5 event began developing "mild" flu-like symptoms on March 8, according to Westport-Weston Health District Health Director Mark Cooper.

Both the health and public school districts learned of the exposure on Wednesday morning, which led to the decision to close Westport Public Schools for two weeks and close Town Hall, the library and senior center until next week.

"The point of bringing this up is to highlight the point that this could happen to anyone and anywhere people congregate and interact," Cooper said in a message on the health district's website Thursday. "The fact of the matter is that this virus is going to spread unless everyone diligently practices the simple and effective control measures of washing your hands, cover your cough, keep sick children home from daycare and school, don’t touch your face, etc., every day and everywhere, until the virus runs its course."

(To sign up for Westport breaking news alerts and more, click here.)

As of Thursday, state health officials said Connecticut has six confirmed cases of COVID-19, and 95 people have been tested, 89 of whom have tested negative.

A partygoer from the Westport event, who has since left the country, has been in contact with the health district after that individual learned that he had tested positive for the coronavirus. He discovered the diagnosis after he returned to his home country, which Cooper has not disclosed.

"He said his symptoms were mild, flu-like, and that he feels fine," Cooper said during a press conference on Wednesday in front of Westport Town Hall, adding that the health district is seeking to obtain more information on the positive test.

Whether the 14 people have COVID-19, or cases of the seasonal flu, has yet to be determined, as the health district awaits testing results. In the meantime, the health district is in the midst of reaching out to all 40 attendees of the private to determine if anyone else has had symptoms.

Patch reached out to Cooper for additional information on Thursday but did not immediately receive a reply.

"The virus has already spread from the initial introduction point in Westport to 14 new points, who then again potentially passed it on to about 14 new points, each," Cooper said in Thursday's message. "It is beyond trying to track who has been exposed and monitoring them for 2 weeks, to see if they develop symptoms to make sure they don’t pass it on. It would be like trying to determine who knows who and who may have seen whom when. That is no longer an efficient use of resources. Contact tracing usually involves two or three people with a limited number of cases. This has grown exponentially."

The health district has a waiting list for COVID-19 testing for people who have symptoms; call 203-227-9571 ext. 237 and leave your name and contact information, a nurse will return your call with more information.

Read Cooper's March 12 coronavirus message.