Two more coronavirus cases in Marin County

Two more Marin County residents have tested positive for COVID-19, the coronavirus, bringing that county's total cases to five, the Marin County Department of Health and Human Services said Saturday.

The two new cases had no known exposures to other cases, and are believed to have contracted the virus through "community spread," said Dr. Matt Willis, Marin County Public Health Officer. Neither of these new patients is hospitalized; both are quarantined at home until they are no longer infectious.

Marin County press release of new cases

Marin Health and Human Services will not release further information about the patients. "These first cases of community transmission of COVID-19 in Marin means we're in a new stage of working to mitigate spread," Willis said in a news release.

"We've been anticipating this. This is why we took big steps this week, including limiting large gatherings and closing classrooms."

The two newly confirmed cases were tested at Marin's field-testing site, which launched earlier this week to help enhance testing capacity countywide.

Until this week, the lack of federal testing supply has made it challenging to measure local incidence of disease, Willis said.