The Hackensack University Medical center confirmed that the patient hospitalized in Hackensack, New Jersey does not have a new coronavirus that first broke out in China.
“After an evaluation of the patient and consulting with the State Department of Health, experts have determined the patient does not have the Wuhan Coronavirus. Due to patient privacy, we are unable to provide additional information,” the hospital said in a statement.
Health officials believed a Texas A&M student who traveled from Wuhan, China may have contracted the virus.
Together with the Department of Health and local health officials, the hospital worked together to gather information on the patient to evaluate for possible infection with the coronavirus.
Coronavirus originates from central China, where the illness has reached nearly every province and region of the country.
It can cause coughing, fever, breathing difficulty, and pneumonia and has spread to Thailand, South Korea, and Taiwan.
The transmission of the disease is still unknown.
“Person-to-person transmission is still being evaluated but appears to be occurring within case households and in the healthcare setting,” the New Jersey health department told NorthJersey.com.
On Jan. 21, the United States reported its first case of the virus in Washington state.
