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North Carolina has its first reported case of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus that has slowly started to spread to the United States, Gov. Roy Cooper’s office reported Tuesday.

A Wake County resident was exposed to the virus in Washington State, where there is a COVID-19 outbreak at a long-term care facility, Cooper said at an afternoon news conference. He said that the person, who was not identified, is doing well and is in isolation at home.

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“We’ve been preparing for this, and we do expect to see more cases in North Carolina,” the governor said.

Cooper said local health department officials are working to identify anyone else who may have been exposed.

“I know people are worried about this virus,” Cooper said. “And I want to assure you the state of North Carolina is prepared. Our most important work is keeping people healthy and safe.”

Dr. Mandy Cohen, secretary of the state Department of Health and Human Services, said the Wake County individual flew home to North Carolina, but Cohen would not answer questions about which airport the person flew from.

Airport officials confirmed the passenger traveled through Raleigh-Durham International Airport on Feb. 22.

RDU officials released a travel update Tuesday evening saying that the passenger “was not experiencing symptoms when they traveled through Raleigh-Durham International Airport. Based on CDC guidance, there was no identifiable risk from this case to other travelers.”

Cohen said health officials are tracing who the infected person would have been in contact with and are informing people who were on that flight.

An isolated case

Cooper said state officials are also working closely with local health departments and health-care providers to quickly identify and respond to new cases. Health officials say this is an isolated case, but they are continuing to monitor returning travelers to help prevent the spread of the virus.

Officials did not answer questions about which health care facilities the individual may have visited or where in Wake County the person resides.

In a news release, they cited the individual’s privacy as the reason for not releasing further details about the infected person.

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Chris Kippes, the Wake County director of public health, said they are contacting the individual at least twice a day to ask how they’re feeling. The person is taking their own temperature and giving health officials specific information to monitor their health.

The person will remain in isolation until they no longer have symptoms and produce two negative tests that are 24 hours apart, Dr. Elizabeth Tilson said at the news conference. She is the state health director and chief medical officer with North Carolina DHHS.

NC testing began Monday

State health officials have been identifying potential cases since late January, all of which have been negative. The state lab just began testing cases Monday, and identified the first NC case.

It is a “presumptive positive” case because it is only the second day that lab has been doing the testing, Cohen said.

The samples from the individual were sent to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for confirmation, which could take about 24 hours.

Cohen said the state will do confirmation tests with the CDC for a while, but it’s good news that the state has the capacity to do more testing itself because it can get results faster and respond faster.

North Carolina will continue to see additional cases among travelers and people who had contact with someone who may have the infection and the state will continue to test more individuals, Cohen said.

In January, an airline traveler was tested for the coronavirus after landing at Raleigh-Durham International Airport but did not have the virus.

After confirmation of the North Carolina case was announced Tuesday, U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis issued a statement saying he is working with Washington officials on a response.

“The health and well-being of North Carolinians is my top priority, and I’m working to make sure Congress comes together on a bipartisan basis to provide billions of dollars in federal assistance to combat the coronavirus and protect North Carolinians,” Tillis said in the statement. “I’m in close communication with Vice President Pence and other federal leaders, and I will do everything I can to continue supporting our state’s medical institutions, universities, and health care systems, which are some of the best in the world and have a proven track record in treating infectious diseases.”

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Steps to stay safe

At Tuesday’s press conference, Cooper said the most important steps to stay safe are to wash your hands often, avoid touching your face, cover your mouth and nose when you cough or sneeze, clean and disinfect surfaces and stay home from work or school if you’re sick.

In about 80% of coronavirus cases, people experience mild symptoms and the mortality rate is about 1.4%, Tilson said.

“We anticipate that that mortality rate might actually be coming down the more we learn about the virus and more people that have very mild symptoms,” Tilson said.

So far, they’re seeing that older people with underlying health conditions seem to be at a higher risk. And children seem to fair very well. Only about 1% of cases have been identified in children, according to Tilson.

Coronaviruses are a group of viruses, the most common of which cause a simple cold. However, this new coronavirus infection gets down into the lungs, which can cause pneumonia or bronchitis.

People usually experience fever, coughing and difficulty breathing, because it’s a lower-respiratory infection.

The CDC’s website showed 60 cases in 12 U.S. states as of Tuesday, and a total of six deaths. However, media reports Tuesday afternoon said nine deaths had been confirmed, including some that occurred last week but were only now connected to the coronavirus.

Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, said in a media briefing Tuesday that 90,893 cases of COVID-19 have been reported globally and 3,110 deaths, according to a transcript of his remarks on the WHO website.

In the past 24 hours, he said, China reported 129 cases, the fewest cases since Jan. 20.

Outside China, he said, 48 countries have reported 1,848 cases of illness, 80% of them in three countries: South Korea, Iran and Italy.

“We understand that people are afraid and uncertain,” Ghebreyesus said, according to the WHO. “Fear is a natural human response to any threat, especially when it’s a threat we don’t completely understand. But as we get more data, we are understanding this virus, and the disease it causes, more and more.”

Local hospitals have been getting ready

Area hospitals and healthcare systems have been trying to prepare for the arrival of COVID-19.

On Monday night, UNC Health CEO Wesley Burks sent a note to all employees describing some of the preparations, which include setting up a group to oversee the work systemwide. Burks noted that UNC has several internationally known infectious disease experts who are consulting with the health care system and consulting with local, state, national and international health officials.

UNC Health also is working with the CDC, Burks said.

“With the first confirmed case in North Carolina, UNC Health and its individual hospitals are closely monitoring developments and continue to make preparations for a range of scenarios,” he said. “UNC Health and its entities are well-prepared to treat any patients we might receive while also minimizing disruption to our normal operations.”

A spokeswoman at Duke Health said all three of that system’s hospitals have spent weeks planning and preparing for a local eventual case of coronavirus, and are ready to manage cases that require hospital care.