State’s coronavirus patient out of isolation

Twenty-six days after his diagnosis was first confirmed, the patient with Arizona’s only case of new coronavirus is out of isolation, county health officials said Friday. The patient is a male in his 20s who is part of the Arizona State University community, and had been traveling in Wuhan, China, before his Jan. 26 diagnosis in Maricopa County.

The patient was released from isolation after multiple negative tests for new coronavirus, which is also called COVID-19, the Maricopa County Department of Public Health said in a statement it tweeted Friday afternoon.

The patient was released from isolation by the county health department, in coordination with the Arizona Department of Health Services and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, county health officials said.

The testing was done by the CDC, county health officials said. “We would like to thank this individual for his patience and commitment to public health during his prolonged isolation with very mild illness,” county health officials said in a written statement.

“There is no risk of COVID-19 to the community from this individual, and we encourage his friends, family and the community to support him as he transitions back to his everyday activities,” they said.

At least 34 people in the U.S. are infected by new coronavirus. All the cases are linked to travel. Most of the cases worldwide have been in Wuhan, China.

On Jan. 30, the International Health Regulations Emergency Committee of the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a “public health emergency of international concern.”