WEST OLIVE, MI — The Ottawa County woman who tested positive for coronavirus came into “close contact" with about 50 people before she was admitted to Holland Hospital on March 9, officials said at a press conference Tuesday afternoon.

Ottawa County Department of Health officials have since contacted those people and have told them to self-quarantine and notify their doctor if they show signs of coronavirus. The woman who tested positive for the virus is “middle-aged” and did not have a history of travel, said Health Officer Lisa Stefanovsky.

“This is important because it indicates a possible exposure from an undiagnosed person within the community,” she said. “We believe there is virus in the community and an unknown number of people may be infected with or without symptoms and not diagnosed by a health care provider.”

The health department says six-feet is considered to be “close contact” with a coronavirus patient.

Holland Hospital announced Tuesday that the woman was discharged from the hospital Monday, March 16, and is being monitored by the Ottawa County Department of Public Health.

County officials on Tuesday did not release a list of spots with the community the coronavirus patient visited before she was hospitalized. The county decided not to do so because coronavirus is “not as infectious as other known agents for which we would routinely publish that information,” said Derel Glashower, senior epidemiologist at the county.

“But like I said, this situation is evolving quickly so our process may change just based on the number of contacts, and what we’ve learned and know about COVID 19," he said.

At this point, county officials say they are unsure from whom the coronavirus patient contracted the virus. Officials say they are staying in touch with the 50 people who came into contact with the coronavirus patient. For some of those people, the health department is contacting them on a daily basis, depending on the nature of their contact with the coronavirus patient.

County health officials said they are unsure how many of the 50 people have been tested for coronavirus.

“Now for some of those people, we’ll be monitoring them, like we said, if they’re the real close personal contacts,” Stefanovsky said.

As of Tuesday afternoon, there were 65 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Michigan. Five of those are in Kent County, and one is in Ottawa County.

Stefanovsky said there’s been a “slight shortage” of coronavirus test kits in the community. Because of that, some doctors have told patients who show some but not all signs of the illness to self-quarantine and treat themselves as if they have coronavirus.

“This is an absolute precautionary measure just in case they have it," she said. “It doesn’t mean they do, but we want people to make sure that if they have any symptoms consistent with it that they’re not wandering around in the public and potentially spreading the virus.”

Looking forward, Stefanovsky said she thinks Ottawa County can “get through” the coronavirus outbreak if people who are feeling sick stay home and avoid large crowds.

“If we do social distancing and we don’t congregate, this is going to flatten that curve, and that’s really what we’re trying to do here," she said.

Related: Ottawa County’s first coronavirus patient out of the hospital

PREVENTION TIPS

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