PLUS: Chicago man is state’s 7th confirmed case
Officials announced Sunday that a Chicago man in his 60s is the seventh person in Illinois to contract coronavirus and warned that more cases are likely to crop up in the coming days.
The man is now hospitalized in serious condition as authorities investigate, according to the Chicago Department of Public Health. The latest case has not been linked to any travel or other individuals who have been stricken by COVID-19, including an aide at Vaughn Occu- pational High School in Portage Park.
Though Chicago’s public health commissioner Allison Arwady said the new case “does not mean there is widespread transmission of COVID-19 occurring in Chicago,” she said the city is “taking this case of potential community transmission very seriously.”
“As we have enhanced our surveillance efforts and begun testing more people, we expected to find more cases, and I expect that we will continue to identify cases in the days and weeks to come,” Arwady added.
“It signals how important it is for anyone with fever, cough and respiratory symptoms to stay home, and how important it is for us all to focus on protecting our older residents and those with underlying medical conditions.”
Arwady said the newest case of coronavirus was identified by the city’s and state’s surveillance efforts. Anyone who experiences influenza-like symptoms, respiratory issues or other serious illnesses that tests negative for the flu or other viruses will have a sample sent to the Illinois Department of Public Health for a coronavirus screening.
“That is how this patient was detected, and we were able to rapidly identify it because he sought medical care,” Arwady said.
Illinois Department of Public Health Director Ngozi Ezike said the state has enough coronavirus testing supplies for people associated with either Chicago case that requires testing. But she said the state would need more tests to expand its sentinel surveillance, so it’s looking into possible partnerships with companies that offer commercial testing.
The classroom assistant from Vaughn, a Chicago woman in her 50s who was a passenger on the Grand Princess cruise ship last month, was the sixth confirmed case of coronavirus in Illinois. Officials said Sunday that she was in good condition.
Anyone who visited Vaughn since Feb. 25 was asked to quarantine themselves at home until March 18. However, people who were not at Vaughn can still attend work and school as long as they’re not sick, even if they’ve been in contact with someone who was at the school.
Vaughn focuses on special education and enrolls 212 students. As of the start of the year, 85 CPS employees worked at Vaughn, according to Chicago Public Schools records. Arwady said officials are reaching out to students, faculty and staff at Vaughn to test anyone showing symptoms for the virus. As of Sunday afternoon, no one had tested positive.
Amtrak rider tests positive
Also Sunday, Amtrak announced that a St. Louis County, Missouri, woman in her 20s who recently tested positive for coronavirus had traveled on one of its trains from Chicago to St. Louis last week.
Amtrak said it would notify passengers and employees who might have been on the same train, which was removed from service for disinfection. The rail agency said it would also disinfect its Chicago and St. Louis stations.
The first two cases of coronavirus involved a Chicago couple who contracted the virus when one of them traveled to central China in January. The husband and wife have both recovered.
Illinois’ third and fourth cases involved an Arlington Heights couple who recently traveled to another state. The fifth case is a Cook County man in his 20s who recently traveled to Italy.
Those three patients are still in home isolation and doing well, Ezike said Sunday.