The manager of the Palm Beach County Convention Center manager said it followed the guidance of the Florida Department of Health. The building was scrubbed down after the incident in late February.

*

TO OUR READERS: This content is being provided for free as a public service to our readers during the coronavirus outbreak. Please support local journalism by subscribing to The Palm Beach Post. If you want breaking coronavirus news directly in your inbox, sign up for our Coronavirus Newsletter.

*

WEST PALM BEACH — After a conference attendee tested positive for the coronavirus, the Palm Beach County Convention Center conducted a full wipe-down but did not have center workers tested, its general manager said.

"Based on a recommendation from Palm Beach County Health Department, our PBCCC employees were not tested," Dave Anderson told The Palm Beach Post late Tuesday in an email.

>>Coronavirus: Macy’s, Nordstrom, Bloomingdale’s close mall stores through March

"However," Anderson said, "all staff are required to refrain from coming to work if they are sick and contact their healthcare provider if they are experiencing any specific symptoms." The center is working closely with the Florida Department of Health, he said.

The person who tested positive had staffed the Biogen pharmaceutical company’s booth at a Feb. 28 conference of Americas Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis.

The person tested positive after returning home, authorities have said.

>>Coronavirus: FAU student tests positive, school president says

Anderson did say that the convention center, after learning of the positive finding, has been "focused on upgraded daily cleaning of the building and preventative measures in the front and back-of-house."

The building’s "touch points" — elevator buttons, escalator handrails, meeting room door handles, push bars and bathrooms — are disinfected and sanitized regularly, he said.

Anderson also said ACTRIMS, the organization conducting the conference, notified its attendees directly of the test result.

Kristin McGuine, a spokeswoman for ACTRIMS, told The Palm Beach Post the group also had bee trying to get details about the affected person but without luck.

Biogen, the attendee’s employer, did not respond to an inquiry.

>>Coronavirus: Palm Beach County bars to close for a month

The Pennsylvania Department of Health, responding to an inquiry from The Post, would not be specific about the person, instead directing a reporter to the state's "box score," which lists only the number of cases by Pennsylvania county. The affected person's home county is not known.

The Palm Beach County unit of the Florida Department of Health has said that the convention center case is listed as a Pennsylvania case, and the case of a man who learned he'd tested positive as he flew from New York to Palm Beach International Airport on March 11 counts toward New York totals.

In the second case, 104 passengers and a crew of five aboard JetBlue Flight 253 sat on the runway for a few hours before the health department sent them home, telling them to monitor themselves. The plane and a little-used concourse to which it had been diverted were scrubbed down. JetBlue later said it had banned the passenger for life.

EK@pbpost.com

@eliotkpbp

Listen to today's top stories from The Palm Beach Post: