Likely Coronavirus Case In Norfolk County: Health Officials

MASSACHUSETTS — A Norfolk County woman in her 20s is the first likely case of the new coronavirus in Massachusetts since the state started testing late in February. The woman recently returned from a trip to Italy with a school group, state health officials said Monday night. She has a "presumptive" positive case of the virus, officials said.

The woman is being quarantined in her home and she is "recovering," according to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.

"We understand the concern this new virus is causing, and our state’s ability to quickly test for the virus is a positive development," Public Health Commissioner Monica Bharel said in a news conference. "The risk to the public from COVID-19 remains low in Massachusetts."

Health officials have tested 12 Massachusetts residents since January. The first confirmed case of coronavirus in the Bay State was a UMass-Boston student in his 20s who visited Wuhan, China. Three of those 12 people have been tested since Friday.

So far, 608 people have been self-quarantined in Massachusetts over coronavirus fears. Of those, 377 have been cleared.

Earlier Monday, Cohasset Superintendent of Schools Patrick Sullivan informed parents of a woman being quarantined in a letter on Monday, though he said the woman is not connected to the school system. It was reported she returned from an international trip in which two Rhode Island residents tested positive for the virus after returning.

The DPH did not specify what town the woman is from. Cohasset is in Norfolk County.

According to the Sullivan, the school is working closely with the Cohasset Department of Public Health and state Department of Health to determine whether the woman had any interaction with Cohasset students. He said guidelines from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention have been shared with the school community.

Cohasset police confirmed the quarantine in the town: "The Cohasset Police Department was notified by Cohasset Health Department that the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) home quarantined a resident of our town due to 'close contact' with a person suffering from Covid-19 (Coronavirus).

"We are closely monitoring this situation and remain in contact with our state and federal partners. Although there is no known nexus between the resident and our public school system, we have met with school district leadership to keep them apprised of the situation. There are no known cases of Covid-19 in Cohasset at this time, and as the DPH has stated, the risk in Massachusetts is low."

The Rhode Island Department of Health confirmed the state's first two "presumptive positive" tests on Sunday, and said a third person was being tested for possible exposure to the virus after a school trip to Europe last month. The trip was organized by St. Raphael's Academy, which is closed all this week.

Coronaviruses are a family of viruses that include the common cold as well as much more serious diseases. The strain that emerged in China in late 2019, now called COVID-19, is related to others that have caused serious outbreaks in recent years, including severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS). The first confirmed case of COVID-19 in the U.S. was on Jan. 21.

The disease, which apparently originated in animals, is now transferring from person to person, although the mechanism is not yet fully understood. Its symptoms include fever, coughing and shortness of breath, and many patients develop pneumonia. There is as yet no vaccine against COVID-19 it and no antiviral treatment.

According to the CDC, the best way of preventing the disease is to avoid close contact with people who are sick, to avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands, to wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, and to use a hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol if soap and water are not available.

To avoid spreading any respiratory illness, the CDC recommends staying at home when you are sick, covering your cough or sneeze with a tissue and throwing the tissue in the trash, cleaning and disinfecting frequently touched objects and surfaces.

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