A teenager who traveled to Italy on a high school school trip in mid-February became the second victim of coronavirus in Rhode Island, state health officials announced Sunday night. And a woman in her 30s, who was on the same trip, is being tested.
The two were on the same school trip to Europe with Saint Raphael Academy, a Catholic high school in Pawtucket, R.I. , health officials said, where a man in his 40s became ill. His was the first “presumptive positive” case of the respiratory illness, also known as CORVID-19, health officials said. He is currently hospitalized.
The student and the woman are “at home with mild symptoms,” health officials said in a statement. The woman, whose test results are expected on Monday, is on the staff of Achievement First Academy, a charter school in Providence.
“All three people went on the same trip to Italy,” Dr. Nicole Alexander-Scott, director of the state health department, said in a statement. “This is precisely why we are being so aggressive in identifying contacts, ensuring monitoring, and testing people who are symptomatic.”
All 38 of the people on the school trip will be self-monitoring for symptoms at home for 14 days with public health supervision, health officials said. They have been instructed to not go to school or work and to remain at home during the quarantine.
State health officials are working with the hospital where the man who tested positive for COVID-19 is currently being treated to ensure all infection control protocols are being followed. State health officials did not release the name of the patient or the hospital.
The test results were sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for final confirmation, Alexander-Scott said Sunday at a press conference.
“At this point time, the general level of risk for Rhode islanders is low. There is no need for panic, there is no need to be frightened,” Democratic Gov. Gina Raimondo said at the press conference
Massachusetts health officials announced Feb. 1 that a student at UMass Boston who had traveled to Wuhan City, China, had contracted the respiratory illness.
The first reported death in the U.S. from the novel coronavirus was confirmed Saturday in Seattle, prompting the governor of Washington to declare a state of emergency. The U.S. has about 60 confirmed cases of COVID-19, which first appeared in late 2019 in Wuhan, China. Worldwide, the number of people sickened by the virus hovered Friday around 83,000, and there were more than 2,800 deaths, most of them in China.
Most infections result in mild symptoms, including coughing and fever, though some can become more serious and lead to pneumonia. Older people, especially those with chronic illnesses such as heart or lung disease, are especially vulnerable. Health officials think it spreads mainly from droplets when an infected person coughs or sneezes, similar to how the flu spreads.
The number of coronavirus cases in the United States is considered small. But that number is expected to grow, and health agencies have been ramping up efforts to identify those who may be sick.
Outreach to those who have been in direct contact with the person in Rhode Island has begun. The agency said there are extensive efforts underway to ensure those people undergo a period of 14 days of self-monitoring for symptoms at home with public health supervision, also known as a quarantine.
The man in his 40s who was the first to be diagnosed had limited travel in Rhode Island since returning from Italy and had not gone to their place of work since returning. The person’s immediate family members have begun self-quarantining.
The CDC is managing the efforts to trace people on the man’s return flight to the United States.
Saint Raphael Academy, which organized the trip to Europe, will be closed for the remainder of this week. Achievement First Academy will be closed for two days, pending the results of the staff member’s tests. The result is expected on Monday; the school is closing for an additional day for cleaning.
— this story has been updated as of 10:45 P.M. Sunday
— with reports from the Associated Press
