CONCORD, N.H. (AP) - New Hampshire public health officials said Sunday they are monitoring about 150 people after the number of positive coronavirus cases in the state doubled to four, including a man who was exposed at a Lebanon church last weekend.

One of the new patients is a Rockingham County man who recently traveled to Italy, said Dr. Benjamin Chan, the state epidemiologist. The man is being isolated at home, and officials believe the exposure to the community was low in his case because he had been at home for several days before testing positive, Chan said.

The other is a Grafton County man who had contact with the second of two earlier cases at a coffee social and morning worship services at Hope Bible Fellowship church in West Lebanon on March 1.

“What we have from our public health investigation is a clearly identified chain of transmission: Transmission from the first individual to the second individual to now, the third individual,” Chan said in describing the three Grafton County cases. “And that’s exactly what our public health investigations are intended to identify, with the goal of limiting and preventing further spread in our communities.”

The church cancelled Sunday services and other events scheduled next week, and health officials are asking anyone who attended the March 1 services or social hour to stay home through March 15 and monitor for symptoms. Those who develop symptoms of fever or respiratory illness should immediately contact the state Bureau of Infectious Disease Control.

The state announced its first case, a Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center employee who had traveled to Italy, on March 2. The state later issued him an official order of isolation after learning he attended a private social event in White River Junction, Vermont, despite being told to stay home. Health officials said a handful of the more than 100 people who attended the party organized by Dartmouth College’s Tuck School of Business were instructed to self-quarantine because they had close contact with the man.

The second patient also is an employee of the Lebanon hospital who had close contact with the first. Chan declined to say whether that contact happened at the Vermont event, but confirmed the second patient is the source of the church infection. The second patient did not become symptomatic until after attending church, Chan said.

“The church and the individual who was at church did nothing inappropriate,” he said.

Officials at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, the state’s largest hospital, have said they do not believe any patients have been exposed. State officials declined Sunday to say how many, if any, of the hospital’s more than 5,000 employees are quarantined. The 150 people being monitored statewide include recent international travelers and those who have been identified in relation to one of the confirmed cases, said Beth Daly, chief of the state bureau of infectious disease control.

Worldwide, the virus has infected more than 100,000 people and killed more than 3,400, the vast majority of them in China. Most cases have been mild, and more than half of those infected have recovered.

In the U.S. the number of infections has grown to more than 400.

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