Clark County resident tested for coronavirus now quarantined at home

A Clark County resident possibly infected with a new coronavirus that has spread from China has been discharged from a local hospital and is now in isolation at home, according to the Southern Nevada Health District.

Since returning from a trip to China on Jan. 14, the individual, who no longer has symptoms of illness, has been “in contact with a limited number of people,” Dr. Fermin Leguen, acting chief health officer for the health district, said late Friday.

“So far, no other person who has been in contact with this patient has shown any respiratory symptoms,” according to the district’s investigation, Leguen said.

The individual lives in a household with one other person. Citing privacy concerns, Leguen would not provide details such as the age or gender of the patient, or where the individual lives.

But the community has had “very limited exposure” to this individual, he emphasized.

Asked if the individual had been at a large gathering since returning from China or had gone to work in a customer-facing position, Leguen said, “As far as I know, this person is not related to the casino industry or anything like that.”

On Wednesday, the district announced that the resident was in an undisclosed local hospital with mild symptoms from what might be the new coronavirus, which can produce mild respiratory symptoms or develop into pneumonia.

Clinical specimens from the individual were sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the only lab in the country that is testing for the new coronavirus that has sicked more than 10,000 globally and killed more than 200. Most of the cases and all of the deaths have been in China, where the virus originated in the central city of Wuhan.

The Clark County resident had traveled to Wuhan while in China, a key criterion for determining whether an illness might be a possible case of the virus.

The health district may get test results determining whether this is an actual case of the illness by the end of the week, though a delay would not be unusual because of the CDC’s increasing caseload, Leguen said. Six individuals in the U.S. have confirmed cases of the virus, while 114 cases have tested negative, according to the CDC. Another 121 cases were pending on Friday.

Contact Mary Hynes at mhynes@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0336. Follow @MaryHynes1 on Twitter.