State Health Commissioner Norman Oliver said the VDH is working with the CDC, Fairfax Health District, Prince William County Health District and the Department of Defense to help identify people who had contact with the two who tested positive, but public risk remains low.

“VDH successfully responded to the H1N1 flu pandemic in 2009 to 2010, and that work serves as a very solid foundation for the work we’re doing in response to COVID-19,” Oliver said.

As of Sunday afternoon, the CDC had tested 1,583 people for the coronavirus since January. More than 500 infections have been confirmed within the U.S., including in New York, Washington state and California, and 21 people have died nationally.

Dr. Denise Toney, director of the Department of General Services’ Division of Consolidated Laboratory Services, said the state has two test kits and more have been ordered already with an expected arrival of sometime next week.

She said each kit can test approximately 150 to 200 people, depending on the number of specimen types needed or repeat tests required. She said the VDH has reached out to university hospitals and other private laboratories to discuss their testing capacity as well and is confident they will be able to run as many tests as needed.