A third patient in Maryland is being tested for possible coronavirus, state health officials say, a day after Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan announced two people who had recently traveled to China have undergone testing for the virus.
As with the two patients Thursday, the third patient met the criteria from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to be tested for the new virus, known as COVID-19. This means the CDC will examine their cases and determine if they actually have the virus.
It’s unclear if the third patient recently traveled to China. Charlie Gischlar, a Maryland Department of Health Spokesman, told WTOP that two of three patients now under investigation traveled internationally. “At this time, we have no additional information about the third case,” he said in an email.
The CDC advises testing if patients show certain symptoms, such as fever, cough, shortness of breath, and have recently traveled to China or other areas where transmission is widespread. The CDC also advises testing if a patient has been hospitalized with a fever and severe respiratory illness but tests negative for influenza.
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Separately, test results for two patients in Virginia — including one in Northern Virginia — are pending.
About a dozen people in the D.C. area have been tested for the virus, but so far, there have been no confirmed cases of coronavirus in Maryland, D.C. or Virginia.
It will take two to three days for test results from the CDC. In the meantime, the patients in Maryland are being quarantined at home, said Dr. Fran Phillips, Maryland’s deputy secretary for public health services.
In Maryland, health departments in every jurisdiction 24/7 hotlines staffed by trained clinicians to answer questions.
All told, the new virus has infected 83,000 globally — the majority in China, where the viral outbreak began. Other areas experiencing widespread community transmission, according to the CDC, include Italy, Iran, Japan and South Korea.
WTOP’s Andrea Cambron contributed to this report.
