Second US Case of Coronavirus Confirmed

Medical staff at Zhongnan hospital in Wuhan, China on Jan. 23, 2020. STR/AFP

The second case of coronavirus in the United States was confirmed in Illinois, health officials said on Jan. 24.

The Chicago resident, a woman in her 60s, returned from Wuhan, China, on Jan. 13 but did not show symptoms while traveling, health officials said in a phone call with reporters.

When she developed symptoms, the woman contacted her doctor, who asked about her travel history and sent her to a hospital, where she was placed in isolation. The hospital’s name was not disclosed.

“She is clinically doing well and is in stable condition,” said Allison Arwady, chief medical officer at Chicago Department of Public Health.

She said she couldn’t share information about how the patient could have become infected.

The woman did not have extended close contact with anyone outside of her home since returning from China and did not take public transportation, officials said.

Officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said that 63 patients were under investigation in 22 states. So far, two have tested positive and 11 have tested negative. The incubation period appears to be around 14 days and officials are looking at patients who traveled to Wuhan within the past two weeks. Both confirmed cases in the United States didn’t show symptoms when they landed in the country.

Employees in scrubs talk next to the ambulance entrance at Providence Regional Medical Center after a spokesman from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said a traveler from China is the first person in the United States to be diagnosed with the Wuhan coronavirus, in Everett, Washington on Jan. 21, 2020. Lindsey Wasson/Reuters

A security officer wears a hazardous materials suit at a subway station in Beijing, China amid the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak on Jan. 24, 2020. Yunan Wang/AP Photo

Officials have implemented screening at five major airports in the United States, including Chicago’s O'Hare Airport. Only one possible case was detected through the screening.

A list of the 22 states will not be released until next week. Based on information from local, state, and federal officials, five have been named: Illinois, Washington, Texas, California, and New Jersey.

Officials are working on distributing kits that enable rapid testing for the coronavirus, which is known as the 2019 Novel Coronavirus or the Wuhan coronavirus.

Officials recommended against nonessential travel to Wuhan—the epicenter of the coronavirus—and said people who travel to other parts of China to take necessary precautions.

The call came after Chinese authorities announced they were quarantining additional cities in Hubei Province, where Wuhan is located.

The virus has spread across the country in China. Cases have been confirmed in Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, South Korea, and Japan.