So far, the United States has been doing a fantastic job of keeping a lid on what few cases of coronavirus COVID-19 may have existed within our borders.
Most of these cases came from fairly predictable sources: Frequent fliers who had recently visited the Far East, where the virus was first discovered and where it has spread like wildfire.
Now, however, a stunning new development in the case has arrived.
Officials with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the nation’s first coronavirus case of unknown origin Wednesday in Northern California in the latest sign of the virus’ rapid spread.
“It is a confirmed case. There is one in Northern California,” CDC spokesman Scott Pauley told The Sacramento Bee just before 4 p.m. Wednesday.
In the Northern California case, “the individual is a resident of Solano County and is receiving medical care in Sacramento County. The individual had no known exposure to the virus through travel or close contact with a known infected individual,” California Department of Public Health officials said in a news release Wednesday evening. State public health officials in Sacramento, citing the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the case is the first person-to-person transmission of the COVID-19 virus.
The virus is believed to be spread by respiratory fluids, with coughs and sneezes playing the role of the predictable culprits.
President Trump has stated on several occasions that the coronavirus is “under control” here in the United States, while the CDC has conversely warned Americans to be prepared for coronavirus to spread stateside.
