UPDATE, 6:30 p.m.: N.J. patient does not have coronavirus, health department says

A patient at a Monmouth County hospital is being treated and tested for a suspected case of the coronavirus, state and local health officials confirmed to NJ Advance Media on Saturday morning.

If the patient at Bayshore Medical Center in Holmdel tests positive, it would be the first case in New Jersey of the illness that has been threatening the globe.

The patient has been isolated at the hospital and is currently being tested by the New Jersey Public Health Environmental Laboratories, officials said.

Results are expected within 24 hours, Gov. Phil Murphy’s office said.

The sex, age, and other information about the patient is not yet available.

As of Saturday, there are no confirmed cases in New Jersey of the virus, which caused the illness COVID-19. Five people in the state have been tested in recent weeks, but all tests have come back negative, officials said.

The Holmdel case was confirmed just hours before it was revealed a person in Washington state became the first in the U.S. to die from the virus.

Daniel Varga, the chief physician executive at Hackensack Meridian Health, the group that runs Bayshore, said its team is working with the New Jersey Department of Health and following protocols from the Centers for Disease Control. That includes isolating the patient, using protective equipment, restricting visitors, and disposing all materials used in treatment.

“Please rest assured that our health care team is taking every precaution in caring for this isolated patient and determining an accurate diagnosis,” Varga said in a statement.

Varga added that doctors are continuing to screen patients with “appropriate symptoms for travel history” to China, Italy, Iran, Japan, and South Korea — including fever, cough, and shortness of breath.

It is not clear if the patient has traveled to a country where the virus has spread.

“We are dedicated to the care and well-being of communities," Varga said. "We will continue to keep you informed.”

The governor’s office said the patient is being tested according to CDC guidelines.

“The hospital has taken all necessary precautions and is following infectious disease protocol,” said Alexandra Altman, a spokeswoman for Murphy’s office.

A spokeswoman for the CDC told NJ Advance Media the agency does not have any further information on the situation.

The case — first reported by CBS New York — was confirmed a day after the state health department announced Friday that the state’s Public Health Environmental Laboratories in West Trenton will now be able to test for the virus without having to send out samples to the CDC. That, officials said, will allow doctors to cut down on the amount of time it takes for test results, from weeks to a matter of days.

“Testing capability will further enhance New Jersey’s preparedness and response to this evolving health emergency," state Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli said in a statement.

Everything at Bayshore Medical Center appeared to be business as usual Saturday afternoon.

There were many open parking spaces in the visitor and patient section of the parking lot. And there did not seem to be many people walking into the emergency room. A few staff members walking through the halls were wearing face masks but the main lobby and cafeteria areas were quiet.

A view of Bayshore Medical Center in Holmdel on Saturday.

There are 195 asymptomatic individuals in New Jersey who are self-quarantined based on their travel history, according to the state health department. They are being monitored by local health officials. None of them is considered high risk.

The Ocean County Health Department had 13 people being voluntarily monitored for COVID-19. As of Thursday, all but four completed the monitoring process, according to Brian Lippai, a spokesman for the county’s health department. None showed any symptoms of coronavirus.

“Those 4 will be done by the end of the weekend,” Lippai said in an email.

The 13 people were “identified through their recent travel history,” and the “individuals were in consistent daily communication with us and were given instructions should they demonstrate any symptoms — which fortunately never occurred,” Lippai said.

Monmouth County had been monitoring nine people.

“They were extremely low risk, they were basically self-monitoring,” said David Henry, spokesman for the Monmouth County Regional Health Commission.

Murphy said Wednesday that New Jersey’s state government is taking steps to prepare for all scenarios.

“We’re doing everything we can to get out ahead of this and also be as prepared as possible if something hits us,” the governor said.

Murphy’s office said the governor spoke Friday night with Vice President Mike Pence, whom President Donald Trump has put in charge of the federal response to the virus.

“The vice president praised New Jersey for taking aggressive and proactive measures to combat the public health threat and reiterated that the Trump Administration stands ready to support New Jersey’s efforts in this fight,” Murphy’s office said.

The state also created a website and a hotline — 1-800-222-1222 — to answer questions about the virus.

As of Saturday afternoon, the were 85,997 cases of the virus in the world — including 68 in the U.S., according to a running tally by the Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering. The overall numbers includes 39,761 people across the globe who have recovered from the illness.

As of Saturday, 2,941 people have died from the virus.

On Friday, officials confirmed three new cases — in California, Oregon, and Washington — of patients in the U.S. with COVID-19 contracted from an unknown source. That means they do not have a known travel history to places where the illness has spread or exposure to someone with the virus.

A top CDC official warned Americans this week to prepare for an “inevitable” outbreak. Federal health officials say the virus may lead to "community spread” — which means it spreads from person to person in communities across the country.

The virus started in China but has been found in six continents across the globe.

The head of the World Health Organization said this week the risk of the virus spreading worldwide was “very high," citing the “continued increase in the number of cases and the number of affected countries.”

Fear of the virus spreading has also caused stock markets to tumble in recent days.

NJ Advance Media staff writers Susan K. Livio and Olivia Rizzo contributed to this report.

Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @johnsb01.

Spencer Kent may be reached at skent@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @SpencerMKent. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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