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News – Saturday, February 29, 2020
State of Illinois Public Health Officials Announce New Presumptive Positive COVID-19 Case In Illinois
Patient’s presumptive positive test will be confirmed by the CDC
CHICAGO – The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) and Cook County Department of Public Health (CCDPH) are today announcing that one Illinois patient has tested positive for COVID-19. The tests conducted in Illinois resulted in presumptive positives for COVID-19. The positive test results will have to be confirmed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) lab. The patient is hospitalized in isolation and CDC protocols have been implemented.
Public health officials are working to identify and actively monitor individuals who were in contact with the patient in an effort to reduce the risk of additional transmission. The state of Illinois will request CDC deploy a team to Illinois to support these efforts.
Governor JB Pritzker has requested that hospitals across the state implement additional testing to improve surveillance for COVID-19. Illinois was the first state to provide COVID-19 testing and Gov. Pritzker announced two more IDPH labs in central and southern Illinois that will be able to test specimens next week.
Illinois has had two previously confirmed cases of COVID-19 and both patients made a full recovery.
Symptoms reported among patients have included mild to severe respiratory illness with fever, cough, and difficulty breathing. Right now, because the virus has not been found to be spreading widely in the U.S., risk to the general public remains low. Public health officials are encouraging the public to not alter their daily routines and remain vigilant about keeping germs from spreading, by covering coughs and sneezes, washing hands with warm soap and water, and staying home when sick.
For more information, contact:
Illinois Department of Public Health:
Call the COVID-19 Hotline at 1-800-889-3931, Email DPH.SICK@ILLINOIS.GOV, or Visit http://www.dph.illinois.gov/topics-services/diseases-and-conditions/diseases-a-z-list/coronavirus
Cook County Department of Public Health:
Call 708-633-4000 or Visit https://www.cookcountypublichealth.org/communicable-diseases/novel-coronavirus