Coronavirus test results pending for two in Snohomish County

Published 1:30 am Thursday, January 30, 2020

Update: A day after this story ran, the first case of person-to-person transmission of coronavirus was confirmed in the United States.

EVERETT — Results for two Snohomish County residents tested this week for the Wuhan coronavirus are still pending, the Snohomish Health District said Wednesday.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta has tested 16 Washington residents out of 165 people from 36 states. Of these, 68 were negative and 92 were pending.

A Snohomish County man in his 30s who had traveled to Wuhan, China, is the first coronavirus case of five nationwide confirmed as positive. The man remained in satisfactory condition on Wednesday after being admitted 10 days ago to Providence Regional Medical Center Everett. He is in an isolated unit.

“There is no treatment right now for this,” Washington’s Department of Health Secretary John Wiesman said at a press conference Wednesday. “Right now, there’s basically supportive care.”

The state lists 67 people as being monitored for being in close contact with the Snohomish County man. Those include people in the clinic when the patient was there on Jan. 19, those who worked in close contact with him and those who were on his Jan. 15 flight, according to the district’s blog.

“The close contacts … are allowed to move freely,” Wiesman said.

There have been no cases of human-to-human transmission of the virus in the United States, he said. The virus is primarily spread through droplets.

“We are absolutely prepared should we have more cases,” he said.

In Washington, seven tests were negative and eight are pending.

Results were negative for two of the three University of Washington students who traveled to Wuhan and later developed symptoms. Testing on the third is pending.

The CDC is expanding its health screenings for coronavirus to 20 airports, including Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Sea-Tac has increased janitorial service at high-touch areas and added more hand sanitizer machines.

In China, the number of infections topped 7,000, more than the total of people infected with SARS during the 2002-2003 epidemic. The death toll reached 170 on Wednesday.

Andrea Brown: abrown@heraldnet.com; 425-339-3443. Twitter @reporterbrown.