A resident at a retirement community in Richmond has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, marking the first known case in the region of a resident at a senior living facility.

In a statement, Westminster Canterbury Richmond, which houses about 900 senior citizens, said one of its residents has been diagnosed with the coronavirus and hospitalized. The patient recently returned from Florida, where there are more than 170 cases of the disease.

The novel coronavirus has been shown to be significantly more harmful to older people, particularly to those with preexisting medical conditions. In Washington state, an outbreak at a King County nursing home led to the deaths of at least 29 people.

Gayle Haglund, vice president for resource development at Westminster Canterbury, said the patient was a man in his mid-80s who was otherwise in good health. After being in Florida for “an extended period of time,” Haglund said, the man and his wife returned to the Richmond facility and “had been pretty much keeping to themselves since they got back.”

The man had an unrelated health issue arise last week, she said, and had to be sent to an area hospital. It was there that he began showing symptoms of coronavirus, was tested and found to be infected with it, Haglund said. He has been at the hospital ever since.

The man’s wife has so far shown no symptoms and has kept herself in home quarantine. “We’re tracking everybody that could have been exposed and we have all the staff that we can identify with any level of exposure at home under quarantine,” Haglund said. She said state health officials are on-site and continuing to monitor the situation while also conducting contact-tracing.

Westminster Canterbury is located at 1600 Westbrook Ave., in the Bryan Park neighborhood along Interstate 95 in Richmond. Several health-care workers at the community have self-quarantined, Westminster said in a statement.