Governor Mike DeWine has declared a State of Emergency following the confirmation of three coronavirus cases in Ohio on Monday.

All three people who are infected are from the Cleveland area. Monday’s announcement marks the first known instance in which the Chinese virus has appeared in the state of Ohio.

Three people have tested positive for the coronavirus in Ohio, all of whom are from Cuyahoga County and are in their 50’s, according to a report by WBNS 10, which added that several other people in Ohio are currently under investigation due to possibly having been exposed to the virus.

Ohio governor Mike DeWine has declared a state of emergency.

This afternoon we learned that three Ohioans have tested positive for #COVID19. It's important for us to take aggressive action to protect Ohioans, and therefore, I have declared a state of emergency in #Ohio. — Governor Mike DeWine (@GovMikeDeWine) March 9, 2020

The report added that two of the three who tested positive for the virus are a married couple that had recently been on a cruise on the Nile River, while the third who tested positive had attended a conference in Washington, D.C.

While it was not specified as to which conference the third individual had attended, it has been reported that the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) conferences recently held in Washington, D.C. had attendees who tested positive for the coronavirus.

The Ohio Department of Health says it is testing five other people in the state for possible infection, and noted that eleven others who were tested for the disease have returned negative results, according to the department’s website.

The state’s Department of Health added that people under investigation (PUI) are those who have shown “symptoms of respiratory illness AND, within 14 days of symptoms starting, either traveled to China,” or have been in close contact with someone known to have the coronavirus.

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