Barbara Rodriguez | Des Moines Register

Eight people in Iowa have tested presumptively positive for the coronavirus that is currently spreading around the world, officials announced Monday, a growing tally in the state as more people get tested for the virus.

Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a disaster emergency proclamation Monday in response, a move that authorizes state agencies to aim resources toward preventing, containing and mitigating COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus.

Reynolds said in a news release that each of the eight people affected by the virus is in isolation in their homes.

Sunday evening, Reynolds had stood at a podium at the Iowa Capitol to alert the public to the state’s first three cases of the virus: Three individuals in Johnson County who had been on an overseas cruise.

Just 24 hours later, as state officials had predicted, the number of cases in Iowa had grown. There have been more than 600 cases in the United States, a number that is accelerating daily.

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Among the details Iowa officials have released about the eight cases in Iowa:

Seven of the eight cases are linked to an Egyptian cruise that finished in early March.

Those seven people also live in Johnson County.

Six of the Johnson County individuals are older adults, between 61 and 80 years old. The seventh is middle-aged, between 41 and 60 years old.

The eighth person lives in Pottawattamie County, in western Iowa and is a middle-aged adult between 41 and 60 years old. That person recently traveled to California.

Reports: Panera Bread employee tested positive

Local officials in Pottawattamie County released more details about the Pottawattamie case at an afternoon news conference in Council Bluffs.

Matt Wyant, the county's director of planning and development, told reporters at the conference that the person is a woman who has “underlying health factors.” She is “stable” and self-quarantined at her Council Bluffs home, he said.

The woman went to the University of Nebraska Medical Center after showing symptoms. The Omaha hospital conducted the woman's test.

The county was notified of the “possible positive” diagnosis on Saturday and immediately began its investigation, Wyant said. UNMC relayed to the county on Monday that the test was a “presumptive positive,” he said.

Pottawattamie County officials did not have complete details of the woman's timeline. Wyant said he didn’t know what day she returned from California, or what day she was tested.

He also said he didn't know whether she had worked at a Council Bluffs Panera Bread since returning from her trip, something Omaha news outlets reported.

"A Panera spokeswoman confirmed that an employee had been sent home because the person exhibited symptoms of the coronavirus disease and that the location was doing a deep clean. It wasn't immediately known what days she may have worked," the Omaha World Herald reported.

KETV NewsWatch 7 reported that health officials said contacting customers is part of their investigation.

Take common-sense precautions, state officials say

There are no directives for Iowans to go about their lives differently. On Sunday, Reynolds said residents should follow daily precautions, like washing their hands frequently, covering coughs and sneezes and staying home when sick.

The Iowa Department of Public Health, the state agency that has been overseeing the state’s response to the virus, said that, as of Monday, all of the cases are presumptive until confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The new total in Iowa indicates the state is entering a new stage in its response to the respiratory disease, which has accelerated around the world. Officials estimate the virus has infected more than 110,000 people, and caused nearly 4,000 deaths as of Monday night, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

Most of the infections and deaths have been reported in mainland China, but the virus' spread continues to grow to other parts of the world.

According to the Iowa Department of Public Health, as of Monday, 51 people have been tested for the virus, an uptick from 37 announced on Sunday night. Eleven tests are pending.

The state is also monitoring 67 people. The department explained previously that the threshold for that monitoring, which involves people periodically checking in with officials, involves people who have traveled from China and Iran. Those two countries have seen some of the largest outbreaks of the disease.

Public health officials are also sharing more information with state lawmakers. On Monday, the public health department held a closed-door briefing at the state Capitol.

Iowans can expect more cases of the novel coronavirus, according to Gerd Clabaugh, the director of Iowa's Department of Public Health.

"We do expect more cases will be identified in the coming days and weeks, and we'll continue to communicate as those circumstances arise," he said Sunday night.

Register reporters Shelby Fleig and Stephen Gruber-Miller contributed to this report.

Barbara Rodriguez covers health care and politics for the Register. She can be reached by email at bcrodriguez@registermedia.com or by phone at 515-284-8011. Follow her on Twitter @bcrodriguez.