Santa Clara county officials are investigating how a 65 year-old woman contracted coronavirus
SAN JOSE, Calif. - The Centers For Disease Control says a second person has contracted the COVID-19 coronavirus without traveling overseas or having any apparent contact with a patient known to have the virus. Both of the new coronavirus patients are residents of the San Francisco Bay Area, the latest being from Santa Clara County and the earlier case Wednesday being from Solano County.
Dr. Sara Cody, the director of the Santa Clara County Co.health department, announced Friday that the patient is a 65-year-old woman who had no travel history overseas or contact with anyone known to have the virus.
"The individual is an adult woman, with chronic health conditions who was hospitalized for difficulty breathing," said Dr. Cody.
Cody says the woman's physician called the county and requested a COVID-19 coronavirus test Wednesday night. The Santa Clara County Public Health Lab conducted the test and confirmed she had the virus late Thursday.
Now, the county says it is tracing all of her contacts.
"Some contacts are higher risk such as someone who lives in the same household or a helath care worker, Other contacts are much lower risk, and then some contacts are essentially negligible such as passing by someone in a grocery store," said Dr. Cody.
County officials say this marks a turning point for the community and they are urging all businesses and schools to prepare for more cases.
On Friday, the Palo Alto School District sent an email out saying that as a precaution, they asked two students, one from Palo Alto High School and one from JLS Middle School to stay home because their parent might have been exposed to the COVID-19 coronoavirus.
The district says the schools will not close but crews will do extra cleaning over the weekend.
"There are professionals and experts who are making plans and making sure there are ways to implement those plans I have full faith in the district that they are doing that," said Shounak Dharap, the Palo Alto Board Of Education vice-president.
One parent, Vivian Wong, says she has discussed hand-washing with her son, who attends the high school.
"At this point what we will do is, what he will do is wash hands more frequently at school..We talk abou tthat every period, just go to the toilet or if he doesn't ..use hand sanitizer," says Wong, who adds that the virus has caused them to cancel some weekend movie plans.
"As a parent, I think the thing that would be most important is communication to the students, communication to the faculty," said Isaac Phillips, a parent.
The CDC says it's imporant for the commmunity to help prevent the COVID-19 virus's spread by washing hands frequently, not touching your face, and staying home if you are sick.
"The virus can survive on surfaces for a fairly prolonged period of time, more than days, but it is also very susceptible to cleaning products," said Dr. Christopher Braden, from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.
Reports in the Mountain View Voice and the Los Altos Town Crier say officials with El Camino Hospital in Mountain View say the woman was treated there.
The county health director Dr. Cody said some medical providers are among those who are being monitored for the virus.
Dr. Cody says the county will be tracking down all the patient's previous contacts through the weekend.
The state department of public health says new test kits for the virus have arrived in California, allowing them to test up to 1,200 people at eight labs statewide, including the lab in Santa Clara County.