COLUMBUS, Ohio—Three Ohioans have tested positive for the new coronavirus, Gov. Mike DeWine announced Monday afternoon.

The governor, speaking at a Statehouse news conference, said all three are from Cuyahoga County. They are all in their mid-50s. The three are at home and in contact with their doctors. All have been cooperative.

Two are a married couple, a man and woman, who recently returned from a cruise on the Nile in Africa, DeWine said.

The other is a man who had returned from a recent American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference in Washington, where some attendees were later confirmed to have COVID-19.

In a news conference by Cleveland city officials, it was announced that the affected people were aged 54 to 56, and all lived in Cuyahoga County suburbs. Six other people who came into contact with the three are now self-quarantining, the city said.

“This disease will for a period significantly disturb and disrupt our lives," DeWine said. “This is no ordinary time. It’s important for us to take aggressive action to protect Ohioans. And the actions that we take now will in fact save lives.”

The state is canceling all travel that is not absolutely necessary.

DeWine also said he’s signing a state of emergency that will allow him to operate government in some ways that are not usual under the law, such as obtaining medical supplies without competitive bidding.

An Ohio Bureau of Workers Compensation annual meeting that was set to occur this week, with about 8,000 to 10,000 attendees, has been canceled, DeWine said.

The primary is scheduled for March 17, next Tuesday. There are about 75 voting locations that are at nursing homes. Those will have to be moved. Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, the state’s chief election official, will announce more details at a news conference Tuesday.

“We would suggest that people vote early,” DeWine said.

On Tuesday, Democratic presidential contenders Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden had scheduled rallies in Cleveland and Columbus. DeWine said it was not his job to tell another politician what to do. They would have to make their own decisions on whether to continue or cancel them.

He reiterated the same message when asked what he would do if President Donald Trump were to schedule a rally in coming days.

Related:

Earlier today, ODH announced that eight people in Ohio were being tested for the virus.

An additional 255 people in Ohio are or have been under public health supervision, which means they have been self-quarantined because they have recently returned from a country with a high number of infections.

Coronavirus first began circulating in China in December and was first tied to a large seafood and livestock market there, according to the CDC. It’s since spread across the globe, infecting more than 108,000 people, including people in at least 35 states and the District of Columbia, according to a data from both Johns Hopkins University and CDC.

Symptoms include fever, cough and shortness of breath. Experts believe the disease is highly contagious. It mainly spreads through respiratory droplets from coughing or sneezing. These droplets can travel and infect people up to six feet away.

The disease can also be spread by people who are asymptomatic, but experts believe that you are most contagious when you are sickest.

The illness has proven to be more deadly than the flu.

About 3.4 percent of people who have come down with coronavirus have died, according to the World Health Organization. In comparison, the seasonal flu kills less than 1 percent of people who comes down with the disease.

While there is a vaccine for the flu, there is none for the coronavirus. Health officials estimate that it could take up to a year and a half to develop and mass-produce a vaccine for the coronavirus.

See press conference from City of Cleveland, Cuyahoga County and local hospital representatives here:

BREAKING: 3 coronavirus cases in Cuyahoga County. Press conference with city, county and hospital officials. Hannah Drown is on scene. Share your thoughts, questions in the comments. Posted by cleveland.com on Monday, March 9, 2020

Cleveland.com’s Mary Kilpatrick and Robert Higgs contributed from Cleveland.

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