Jackson High student, infected with coronavirus, ‘doing well’

Associated Press and Herald staff

SHORELINE — Washington health officials announced two new coronavirus cases Friday night — a Jackson High School student with no known exposure to the disease, whose school in Mill Creek will be closed, and a King County woman who recently traveled to South Korea.

Neither was seriously ill, authorities said.

The student has not traveled recently, and authorities are unsure how that person contracted the disease., said Dr. Chris Spitters of the Snohomish Health District.

At a hastily called news conference at the state Public Health Laboratories here, Spitters said the student was quarantined at home “and doing well.”

The teen became ill Monday with symptoms including a fever and body aches, Spitters said. He stayed home from school and only had contact with a small group of schoolmates. Those kids will be monitored and quarantined, Spitters said.

“It is concerning that this individual didn’t travel and acquired it in the community,” Spitters said.

Authorities said Jackson High, which is part of the Everett School District, would be closed Monday for cleaning.

The other case was a woman in King County, in her 50s, who recently traveled to South Korea. She and her husband, who currently has no symptoms, are also currently quarantined at home.

She went to work for one day after returning from South Korea and then stayed home after experiencing a headache, nausea and a sore throat. She never needed medical care and, like the vast majority of people, is recovering, said health officer Dr. Jeff Duchin with Public Health/Seattle & King County.

Officials are conducting an investigation at her workplace.

Jackson will be the second area high school to be closed due to fear that the coronavirus is spreading. On Thursday and Friday, Bothell High School was closed and disinfected after the family member of an employee there took ill after overseas travel. As it happened, that family member tested negatively and the Bothell campus will reopen at the start of next week, the Northshore School District said.

Earlier Friday, Oregon confirmed its first coronavirus case, a person who works at an elementary school in the Portland area, which will be temporarily closed.

“The case was not a person under monitoring or a person under investigation. The individual had neither a history of travel to a country where the virus was circulating, nor is believed to have had a close contact with another confirmed case — the two most common sources of exposure,” the Oregon Health Authority said in a statement.

The Lake Oswego School District sent a robocall to parents saying that Forest Hills Elementary will be closed until Wednesday so it can be deep-cleaned by maintenance workers.

Last month Washington had the first U.S. patient infected with coronavirus. The unidentified man fell sick after returning home from a visit to China and was admitted to Providence Regional Medical Center Everett on Jan. 20. He fully recovered.