Hours after Riverside County announced its first case of locally acquired coronavirus, its top health official Sunday proclaimed a local public health emergency, which will need to be approved by the county's board of supervisors.

Riverside County Public Health Officer Cameron Kaiser said the proclamation allows the county to take action and secure support more freely. Mainly, “it’s a hard sign to the public (that) the landscape has changed,” he said.

The Riverside County Board of Supervisors meet Tuesday morning.

Kaiser added there are no changes to the Coachella Valley's upcoming music festivals and sporting events, which have not been advised to cancel.

“We believe the community exposure is low. That’s all I’m gonna say about that,” Kaiser said. “I’m gonna say people go about their business.”

County and local health officials gathered Sunday at Eisenhower Health to discuss a patient who is being treated for COVID-19, more commonly known as novel coronavirus, at the Rancho Mirage hospital.

Health officials declined to disclose details about the patient, including how and when the virus was contracted. Kaiser said officials are still investigating the source of contraction, which they hope to complete in a couple days. The patient has no connection to schools in Riverside County, Kaiser said.

The person is the second Riverside County resident to test positive for the virus since February. The first person was a passenger on the Diamond Prince cruise ship in Japan and is being treated at a Northern California facility.

Riverside County:First local coronavirus patient undergoing care in Rancho Mirage

“We knew at some point we would have a first case and it’s here," said Eisenhower Health Infection Preventionist Michael Connors, who added that the patient was not exposed to other patients.

“We don’t want people to panic," Connors said. "We want people to do the sensible thing to protect themselves.”

Kaiser said the county has spoken to the patient's family but declined to provide additional details.

Rancho Mirage Mayor Iris Smotrich learned of the patient Saturday, and she reiterated a statement she made Feb. 28 for residents to take precautions, including washing hands, avoiding close contact and staying home when sick.

"We're encouraging everyone to exercise caution and preventative measures as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control," she said Sunday morning.

Nationwide, there have been 497 positive cases of the coronavirus, with 21 deaths, according to the John Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering. All but one fatality occurred in Washington, which has the most confirmed cases among states.

There have been 109,711 positive cases on a global level. Most of them — 80,699 — are from China, the virus' epicenter.

Will virus affect the desert's marquee events?

When asked about cancellation of the upcoming events that attract thousands to the Coachella Valley each spring, Smotrich said "that's a decision every organization is going to make on their own."

Events in the coming months include the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament; the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival; and Stagecoach, California's Country Music Festival.

The tennis tournament is scheduled to begin Monday at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. Organizers announced last week that ticket holders would be offered refunds and sanitation efforts would be increased.

Coronavirus:BNP Paribas Open will boost sanitizing protocol, offer refunds

The Desert Sun reached out to tournament officials for comment on whether plans could change due recent news of the Eisenhower patient.

As unease about the coronavirus has grown, organizers of a number of annual events that draw national and international attendees are weighing the risk the illness poses against the economic benefits these events reap.

Already, the coronavirus has spurred cancellations of conferences and large-scale events like Miami's Ultra Music Festival, an outdoor electronic music fest that had an attendance of 170,000 in 2019. South by Southwest Festival in Austin was cancelled on Friday afternoon. And the AFL-CIO announced Saturday that it had cancelled its March 12 Orlando, Florida presidential forum with Democratic contenders Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders.

Those same concerns are affecting the Coachella Valley Arts and Music Festival in the form of dueling petitions — for and against cancellation — on change.org, a website where users can start issue-oriented campaigns. The music festival is slated to take place over two weekends next month at the Empire Polo Club in Indio.

As of Sunday morning, more than 8,400 people signed the petition calling for its cancellation. The opposing petition had support from about 700 people.

Music festivals:Petitions for and against cancelling Coachella are circulating online

Coachella? Riverside County's top health officer says music festivals have not been told to cancel

Also on Saturday, a petition calling for the cancellation of the BNP Paribas Open popped up on the same site. About 110 people had signed that petition as of Saturday night.

During a news conference Thursday in Palm Springs, Kaiser said event organizers must gauge whether their events draw more international or domestic travelers, as the risk is slightly greater with international tourists, and he advised event organizers to evaluate the number of attendees who come from abroad.

About an hour before health officials made public the first coronavirus case in the Coachella Valley, Palm Springs Mayor Pro Tem Christy Holstege posted a statement on Facebook urging those calling for the cancellation of this region's events to recognize "there is currently no need to panic about the risk in Palm Springs or the Coachella Valley. We are carefully managing our airport, convention center and our city. We have taken additional precautionary measures to protect public places."

Holstege, who is running for re-election in November, said any decision concerning cancellation of one of this region's large-scale tourism events "should be made by public health officials based on science, and we should be careful to ensure we’re making evidence-based decisions."

She continued: "So many local businesses, workers, and our main tourism economy depend on making most of their money for the year in season, especially in April. We should proactively plan and focus on public safety but we shouldn’t jump to rash conclusions not based on science and shut down thousands of jobs that people depend on and millions of dollars in our economy."

Holstege went on to say that while she is in favor of "contingency planning in case the Coronavirus hits us hard" she added that "families who rely on ... making money in season are seriously affected by all of this and we need to make sure we do not take any drastic steps to deprive hardworking families (of) their livelihoods."

How the virus is affecting Riverside County

Locally, some in the Coachella Valley have already started to take precautions.

EoS Fitness members, including those at the Palm Desert and Palm Springs locations, received a memo on Sunday regarding the gym's coronavirus protocol.

"We are continuing to monitor the spread of the coronavirus and following the guidance of the CDC," an email memo said.

The communication included preventative measures such as increasing hand sanitizer as well as boosting equipment wipe-downs and cleansing through gyms' high traffic areas and children's facilities.

Last week, Riverside County officials activated a medical health department operations center to better coordinate public messaging and planning among other agencies in the community in preparation for the spread of the illness.

“We are trained and prepared to respond to these situations. We have been in communication with hospitals and health care providers in Riverside County and have provided them with the information and resources they need. Protecting the health of Riverside County remains our top priority,” Kim Saruwatari, Riverside County's public health director, said late Saturday.

On Friday, county officials announced a Murrieta Valley Unified School District employee was being tested for the coronavirus. The employee became ill after visiting an area where an outbreak occurred.

More than 70 Murrieta Valley High School students have been instructed to self-quarantine because they may have had contact with the employee.

The results of this person's test will likely be ready by the middle of this coming week, Riverside County Public Health Department Disease Control Branch Chief Barbara Cole said Friday night, adding that the 71 students will not be tested at this time.

Riverside County is not able to conduct tests locally, as the county’s public health lab is undergoing renovations. Instead, tests are being sent to a California Department of Public Health lab in Richmond.

The lab in Riverside County will need to be re-certified before being allowed to conduct its own tests, officials said. No word on exactly when that could happen.

In the meantime, Murrieta Valley High will be closed on Monday and could remain closed until the testing has been completed.

Riverside County was among the earliest U.S. communities to become involved in the coronavirus epidemic in January when 195 citizens flew into March Air Reserve Base from Wuhan, China and were quarantined for 14 days.

They were all released after testing negative for the virus.

The effort cost Riverside County $1.3 million and Congressman Raul Ruiz said he wants the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to reimburse the funds.

Coronavirus:House passes $8.3B measure to battle growing threat

Updated Riverside County information about COVID-19 is available at www.rivcoph.org/coronavirus. The public is encouraged to call 2-1-1 and 800-CDC-INFO (800-232-4636) with any questions.

Desert Sun reporter Colin Atagi covers crime, public safety and road and highway safety. He can be reached at Colin.Atagi@desertsun.com or follow him at @tdscolinatagi. Support local news, subscribe to The Desert Sun. Desert Sun reporters Marie McCain and Brian De Los Santos contributed to this story.