With at least seven known COVID-19 cases confirmed in Illinois, it could be a matter of when, not if, the deadly coronavirus shows up in Milwaukee.

At a news conference at Mayor Tom Barrett's office Sunday, city Commissioner of Health Jeanette Kowalik said she believes it's likely the infectious respiratory disease will end up here.

So far, though, no confirmed cases have been reported in Milwaukee. Something Barrett pointed out at the news conference in an effort to allay fears.

"A big part of what we're doing is to calm people," the mayor said.

On Sunday, health officials in Chicago confirmed a man in his 60s, who is hospitalized in serious condition, is the first community-transmitted case of the virus in the city 90 miles south of Milwaukee.

In Wisconsin, there has been only one case — in Dane County and that person has now been cleared.

"We know there are many, many, many people in our community that go to and from Chicago and so that heightens the concern we have. But the tone, if anything, today is calmness. Calmness but preparation," said Barrett.

Only two testing facilities in Wisconsin — in Milwaukee and Madison — are handling COVID-19 test kits but Kowalik said two or three commercial testing facilities in Wisconsin will begin testing samples in a week or so. So far, the Milwaukee Health Department's lab has tested two coronavirus kits, both negative.

The city health department has the ability to test 25 to 30 kits per day, Kowalik said, but that number will ramp up if an outbreak occurs in the city or Wisconsin.

Because of a limited number of kits and testing supplies, said Kowalik, the only people who will be tested for COVID-19 are those who recently traveled to an area where there is an outbreak or were exposed to a confirmed case. That criteria may change as more test kits become available.

Barrett has been in contact with officials from local hospitals, as recently as Sunday morning, to discuss how to accommodate people infected with COVID-19 should that happen.

"This is very, very much on our front burner," said Barrett, adding that he hopes hospital beds won't be needed. "But I don't want to be in a situation where if we are in need (of hospital beds), the question is what have you done?"

Last week, President Donald Trump signed an $8.3 billion measure to tackle the outbreak which has swept rapidly around the world since it was first diagnosed in China in December.

U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Wis., said almost $500 million of the COVID-19 spending package must be deployed within 30 days to help states and local communities pay for testing, infection control, surveillance and other things.

A question Moore has heard from constituents is how people who must self-quarantine because they're sick or have come in contact with someone sick with the virus will bear the expense, particularly if they don't have sick leave.

A provision in Congress that would provide seven days of sick leave and as much as 14 days in outbreak areas is pending, Moore said, something that would not mitigate the disaster COVID-19 has inflicted on some countries but "it will certainly take the edge off of one of the most pernicious and concerning things that people have" especially for those living paycheck to paycheck.

Kowalik said the city health department is not ordering limits on public gatherings or meetings and Barrett said it's too early to worry about whether the Democratic National Convention scheduled in July might be affected.

Kowalik noted that roughly four out of five people infected with COVID-19 recover fairly quickly but that older people have been felled at the highest rate by the virus.

COVID-19 fatality rates are currently almost 15% for people ages 80 and older, 8% for people 70 to 79 and 3.6% for people 60 to 69 years old, dropping to 1.3% for people 50 to 59.

"As Americans it's our job to take care of one another. We just can't think of it as 'Oh, I'll be offline for 2 weeks.' We have to think about the whole community and really take care of each other,” said Kowalik.