Suspicious new case in Solano County

A Solano County resident appears to be the nation’s first case of person-to-person transmission of coronavirus, fueling concern that the illness could spread undetected in the community.

Unlike other cases, the person did not recently return from a foreign country or have contact with a person who was known to be sick or infected, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.

Such person-to-person transmission is worrisome because a virus is much harder to control once is spreads in offices, schools and other community sites. It differs from other cases currently in the U.S., where infection was detected in known travelers who were safely quarantined.

This case, now being treated in Sacramento County, was detected through the U.S. public health system — picked up by astute clinicians, according to the CDC.

Health officials are now tracking down contacts of the patient, as well as investigating whether patient was unknowingly exposed to a returned traveler who was infected.

This means that the U.S. joins other nations where the virus is appearing without a known source of exposure, such as Hong Kong, Italy, Iran, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand.

The news came as President

Donald Trump spoke at an evening news conference in which he was optimistic about the administration’s efforts to prevent the spread of the disease, predicting cases would drop “down to zero in a few

days,” but vowing the U.S. is ready to handle an outbreak, should it come.

Does this mean that the coronavirus outbreak could pose a threat to you and your family?

Yes, no and maybe.

For the first time, the number of new coronavirus infections outside China has surpassed those inside the country, with new

hotspots in several countries such as Italy and South Korea, where the illness was diagnosed in a South Korean flight attendant who may have serviced trips between Seoul and Los Angeles last week, according to several South Korean media outlets.

But 14 countries have not reported a new case in more than a week — and even more importantly, nine countries have not reported a case for more than two weeks.

Health officials insist the risk to Americans remains low. Hundreds of

people who were airlifted from China to the U.S. last month were given a clean bill of health and allowed to leave quarantine. About 60 people have tested positive — most of them among passengers on a Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan who were brought back to the U.S. earlier this month.

The vast majority of confirmed cases are considered mild, involving mere cold-like symptoms to mild pneumonia. But the illness can be catastrophic for five percent of patients, particularly the elderly.