The novel Corona virus continues spreading in California, though authorities have identified only a single case in the North State.
Public health officials in Shasta County say the patient, a man in his 50s, is in isolation at home.
Statewide, officials have confirmed 157 cases in the state, excluding passengers from the Grand Princess, a cruise ship that docked in Oakland Monday.
California residents with mild symptoms are being relocated to a hotel in San Carlos and will be held in quarantine.
In the North State, Shasta County Public Health Officer Karen Ramstrom told the Board of Supervisors yesterday that generally mild cases are actually a major concern.
“80 percent of us who get this infection will have mild to moderate illness, which means we might just go about our day-to-day activities, think, ‘I’ve got the sniffles, I got a little bit of a cold, I’m just going to go to work,’ and what I worry about is in the course of doing that, we spread it to people with underlying health conditions or older adults and those are the people that we worry about really getting sick.” Ramstrom said.
Meanwhile, public health authorities in Butte County say two people being monitored for the virus there tested negative Wednesday, joining a third person cleared earlier. At this time, there are no known or suspected cases in Butte County.
Nevertheless, Chico State announced today it will suspend classes starting Friday, an attempt to reduce risk of exposure among students, faculty and staff. The move essentially adds three days to a scheduled spring break. Classes are scheduled to resume March 25, but that may change.
Further south, in Sacramento County, 140 residents of an assisted living facility in Elk Grove were ordered held in quarantine for two weeks after a resident, a woman in her 90s died of the virus.