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Officials announce first confirmed case of coronavirus in Utah

Officials said the patient is believed to have been on the Grand Princess cruise ship.

SALT LAKE CITY — Editor's note: The above video provides answers from experts to commonly-asked questions about the spread of coronavirus in the United States.

The Utah Department of Health announced on Friday night that they have confirmed the first case of the novel coronavirus in the state.

Officials said the patient is believed to have been exposed to the virus when they were aboard the Grand Princess cruise ship. They emphasized that this case is not from a community spread of the infection in the state of Utah.

The patient returned to Utah after leaving the cruise ship and began experiencing symptoms that are consistent with the COVID-19 virus, according to UDOH. The patient then went to their health care provider, who collected samples from them for testing.

The samples were sent to the Utah Public Health Laboratory for testing, where they were found to be a"presumptive positive," officials said. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevent will now test the samples to confirm the results.

The patient is from Davis County and is older than 60, but officials won't release further details about the patient for their privacy. They are now recovering at home and are under an isolation order.

“Our first priority will be ensuring the patient’s family members and medical providers are monitored for potential symptoms and tested, if necessary,” said Brian Hatch, director of the Davis County Health Department, in a press release. “We will also work closely with the patient to determine if they may have exposed any other members of the community.” 

The UDOH and the Davis County Health Department will now reach out to anyone that may have been in close contact with the patient. Those contacted may be monitored for fever and any respiratory symptoms, officials said.

“Even though a person in Utah has developed the illness, the risk to the general public remains low,” said Dr. Angela Dunn, Utah State Epidemiologist, in a statement. “However, this case does represent a turning point in our response. Home isolation of confirmed cases who aren’t sick enough to be hospitalized is a proven measure that will help limit the spread of disease."

MORE: Timeline: Coronavirus in Oregon, Washington

Facts not fear: Putting COVID-19 into context

The majority of people who have coronavirus will get better without any long-term effects, according to an Oregon doctor. About 82% of cases tend to be mild. In these cases, symptoms diminish over five to seven days, although people are still capable of transmitting the disease. But there are many people with a higher risk of having a more severe disease if they are diagnosed with coronavirus, including those with heart disease, diabetes, asthma and other vascular disease problems.

Also, most children who get it have mild symptoms.

To put the coronavirus numbers in context, millions of Americans get the flu every single year and there are thousands of flu deaths annually.

Since October 2019, the CDC estimates around 32 million Americans have gotten the flu. That’s one in every 10 Americans.

Since the coronavirus outbreak began late last year, there have been around 80,000 confirmed coronavirus cases in China. That means those cases account for just around .0056% of China's population.”

RELATED: Facts Not Fear | What you need to know about the COVID-19 outbreak

Facts not fear: More on coronavirus

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