Orlando Health has emailed agencies saying they have not had a positive case of COVID-19.

Hospital assures public no positive cases result from coronavirus tests

Frustrated by false rumors, Orlando Health has sent an email to dozens of Central Florida police departments, schools, governments and other agencies, saying that the hospital has not had a positive case of COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus.

“Over the past week our office has been contacted repeatedly by multiple local media outlets seeking confirmation of ‘tips’ they’ve received from various sources stating that patients infected with the coronavirus are currently being diagnosed, treated and/or quarantined at our facilities,” said the email. “Multiple reporters have cited their sources for these tips to be police, fire and EMS officials, so we wanted to reach out to you all and ask that you share our official statement within your respective agencies.”

As part of the statement, the health system said that all cases of COVID-19 must be submitted to the state of Florida and the CDC.

According to the Department of Health, there have been no confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Florida. The agency is not saying how many people in the state have been tested for the new virus.

In the United States, there have been 60 cases of COVID-19, 42 of which are in people who were flown to the U.S. from the Diamond Princess cruise ship and are currently under quarantine.

The latest case of the infection was confirmed on Wednesday evening in California, in an individual who reportedly had not had a travel history or exposure to a known patient with COVID-19, marking the first instance of community spread of the virus in the U.S.

“It’s also possible, however, that the patient may have been exposed to a returned traveler

who was infected,” said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in a news release.

This case was detected in the U.S. by an astute clinician, according to the CDC.

“As cases [spread] throughout the world, in Korea, in Italy, and many other countries ... the ability to contain it goes down, so we can expect more cases in the United States, but we will continue an aggressive containment strategy,” said Dr. Brett Giroir, assistant secretary for health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, during a talk at the Lake Nona Impact Forum on Thursday.

Giroir, a four-star admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, said there are 40 public health laboratories across the country capable of testing of the new coronavirus, and “we expect that number to more than double by next week,” he said.

“We want everyone to understand that this is a serious situation. It is not by definition a pandemic. It is very well-controlled in the U.S., but that situation can change,” said Giroir.

There’s no treatment or vaccine for the infection at this time, and public health officials say the best way to prevent infection is good handwashing and staying home when sick.

It is believed that the new coronavirus causes mild illness in about 80% of patients. Those at highest risk of developing severe disease are older adults, particularly men, and individuals who have underlying health conditions. Researchers estimate that about 2% to 4% of patients who get the disease die from it. That’s compared to the flu death rate, which is about 0.05% to 0.1%

Coronaviruses are a broad family of viruses that affect humans and animal. Human coronaviruses were first identified in the mid-1960s, and some of them circulate during flu seasons and cause the common cold.

The new coronavirus that originated in the city of Wuhan in China is a beta coronavirus and is usually linked to bats. SARS and MERS were also beta coronaviruses.