On Friday evening, authorities confirmed that two people – a woman from Santa Clara County, California, and a patient from Washington County, Oregon – had contracted coronavirus from unknown sources within the community.
According to The Washington Post, the woman from Santa Clara County, in Northern California, is 65-years-old and has not recently traveled outside the country. The patient tested positive for coronavirus on Friday, according to “people familiar with the case.”
The second case, which has occurred in an unknown individual from Washington County, Oregon, was confirmed by state health authorities, reports the news agency. The patient, who is an adult and currently at Westside Medical Center in Hillsboro, Oregon, didn’t have contact with other people known to have the coronavirus, and had not recently traveled outside the country.
The two cases confirmed Friday night represent the second and third community spread cases that have been found in the United States. The first case, a person from Solano County, California, was the first confirmed instance of community-spread coronavirus in the United States, and the patient is currently at the UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, California.
The two California cases have occurred within 100 miles of Travis Air Force Base in Northern California, where some of the 400 U.S. citizens aboard the Diamond Princess Cruise Ship were for quarantine. As of Thursday evening, six passengers from the cruise ship out of the 3,711 people on board have died, including five Japanese citizens and a British citizen, reports Forbes.
According to Business Insider, the Chinese Center for Disease Control has indicated that the virus has a mortality rate of 0.2% for people between the ages of 10-39, 0.4% for people between the ages of 40-49, and 1.3% for people between 50-59.
According to the CDC, reports indicate that young children “generally” present mild symptoms if they do contract the virus. According to Business Insider, about 80% of people who contract coronavirus only exhibit mild symptoms.
However, the mortality rate among individuals older than 60 is higher, but could be due to factors such as pre-existing medical conditions, particularly conditions related to smoking. The news agency reports that people between the ages of 60-69 have a mortality rate of 3.6%, people between 70-79 have a mortality rate of 8%, and people over the age of 80 have a mortality rate of 14.8%.
Nancy Messonier, director of the CDC and Prevention’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, stated earlier this week that the spread of the coronavirus was inevitable, but the degree to which people will be infected is still an open question.
“It’s not a question of if but rather a question of when and how many people in this country will have severe illness,” said Messonier, reports the American Hospital Association.
Vice President Mike Pence, who has been appointed to lead the coronavirus task force, has praised the Trump administration’s response to the outbreak, saying that “we’re all going to come together as Americans and deal with this issue and put the health and safety of the American people first,” reports NBC News.
According to The Washington Post, Governor Gavin Newsom indicated Thursday that California has strong procedures for identifying people who have come in contact with coronavirus patients, saying “the protocols have been perfected” through previous public health outbreaks.
The symptoms of coronavirus include coughing, fever, and shortness of breath.