Rhode Island Sees First Virus Case, Patient Visited Italy

The Providence Journal reports:

The Rhode Island Department of Health has announced the state’s first “presumptive positive” case of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The person is in their 40s and had traveled to Italy in mid-February, the department says. The news release does not reveal the person’s gender or hometown.

It says that the person has had “limited travel” in Rhode Island since returning from Italy, and that the person has not gone back to work since returning to the country.

Outreach has begun to people who were in direct contact with the person, the Health Department says, and there are “extensive efforts underway to ensure that they undergo a period of 14 days of self-monitoring for symptoms at home with public health supervision (quarantine).

NBC News reports:

A third person in Illinois has tested positive for the coronavirus, Cook County and state health officials said in a news release Saturday.

The person, who has not been identified, remains hospitalized in isolation, health officials said. Additional details about the patient, including their condition, weren’t immediately available. However, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle tweeted Saturday night that the case was confirmed in suburban Cook County.

In January, two Chicago residents, a husband and wife, were diagnosed with the coronavirus. The wife had recently traveled to Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the outbreak, to care for a relative.